EDWARD  MOTT  WQOLLEY 


THE  JUNIOR   PARTNER 


He  was  not  naturally  a  bold  merchandiser  and  had  to  be 
crowded  all  the  time 

See  page   183 


THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 

THE   INNER   SECRETS    OF   SEVEN 
MEN    WHO    WON   SUCCESS 

BY 

EDWARD    MOTT   WOOLLEY 


NEW  YORK 
E-P -BUTTON  &>  COMPANY 

31  West  Twenty-Third  Street 


COPTBIOXT  191%, 
BY  T*»  CTJMIB  ProuatriHe 


COPYRIGHT,  191* 
BY  E.   P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 


THE   UNIVERSITY    PRESS,   CAMBRIDGE,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    ON  THE  OVERLAND  LIMITED I 

II    THE  STORY  OF  THE  PINK  SOAP  ....  19 

III  MEN  WHO  Do  NOTHING 57 

IV  ON  THE  MAIN  TRACK 65 

V   THE  REAR  FLAGMAN 107 

VI   THE  MANUFACTURER'S  STORY 115 

VII   A  FREIGHT  WRECK 157 

VIII    INNER  SECRETS  OF  A  MERCHANT'S  RISE  165 

IX   MEN  WHO  WIN 207 

X     SUCCESS  BY  THE  RAILROAD    ROUTE     ...  212 

XI    IN  AN  AVALANCHE 245 

XII    REAL  ESTATE  WOODCHUCKS 252 

XIII  THE  RISE  OF  THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER  .    .  285 

XIV  AT  THE  TERMINAL 321 


2138897 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"  He  was  not  naturally  a  bold  merchandiser  and 

had  to  be  crowded  all  the  time  "...    Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

"  The  only  ultimatum  I  shall  recognize  must  come 

from  your  daughter "      38 

"  Madam,  I  have  nothing  whatever  to  sell  you  "       68 

"  He   could  n't  keep  on   insulting   a  steady  cash 

customer " 88 

"  It  did  n't  take  me   long   to   fire    Hank  Slosser 

and  Pete  Jorgan  and  Slim  Mike" 134 

"  Buddie    Barnes    has    begun   work   on  a   loco- 
motive, and  half  the  town  is  watching  him"      170 

"  My  idea  factory  worked  overtime  " 180 

"  I   watched   for  opportunities  on  the  train    to 

bestow  little  attentions  on  passengers  ".    .    .      216 

"  But,  sir,  I  have  changed  my  mind  about  re- 
signing "    236 


THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 

CHAPTER  I 

ON  THE  OVERLAND  LIMITED 

IT  was  on  the  Overland  Limited  train  that 
we  seven  men  chanced  to  meet.  As  we 
pulled  out  of  Omaha  that  evening,  bound 
for  the  West,  I  believe  it  was  Barnes  who  re- 
marked that  these  fast  and  luxurious  trains 
typified  success. 

"  If  I  were  starting  out  as  a  young  man 
again,"  he  said,  "  I  'd  take  the  Limited  at  the 
very  beginning.  You  never  saw  a  fast  train 
running  on  a  jerkwater  branch,  and  you  never 
saw  a  man  achieve  things  worth  while  when 
he  spent  all  his  life  on  a  mixed  train  or  fooling 
around  on  the  switches." 

It  was  very  evident,  however,  that  Barnes 
himself  had  not  spent  all  his  life  on  the 
switches.  You  could  have  told,  simply  by 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

looking  at  him,  that  he  had  been  on  the  main 
track  a  good  many  years.  Success  writes  itself 
on  a  man's  face  and  figure  and  stamps  itself  on 
his  voice.  Barnes  was  a  big  fellow  -  -  six  feet 
high  and  two  hundred,  at  least;  yet  a  soldier 
was  never  straighter  or  more  symmetrical. 
Nor  did  the  tones  of  a  general  ever  breathe 
poise  and  command  more  unmistakably  than 
Barnes'  quiet  though  picturesque  diction.  For 
a  decade  New  York  has  indeed  known  Barnes 
as  a  general  among  merchants. 

It  was  Hopkins  who  took  up  the  subject. 
"  When  I  was  a  boy,"  said  he,  "  there  were  n't 
any  Limited  trains.  Young  chaps  who  started 
out  in  the  business  game  could  n't  travel  as  fast 
as  they  do  now.  They  usually  made  their  start 
in  a  caboose;  then,  when  they  got  into  a  day- 
coach,  they  were  expected  to  ride  there  a  long 
time  before  they  had  any  right  in  a  Pullman. 
To-day,  if  a  young  man  is  alive  to  his  oppor- 
tunities for  gaining  business  wisdom,  he  can 
reserve  a  Pullman  berth  almost  at  the  begin- 
ning. Business  is  a  game  that  is  worked  out 
these  days  to  a  science." 

Surely  Hopkins  was  a  scientist  if  ever  there 
was  one  outside  the  universities.  It  is  not  long 

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ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

since  a  college  professor  would  have  laughed 
at  the  thought  of  science  in  business,  yet  to-day 
the  professors  and  university  presidents  are 
falling  over  themselves  in  their  eagerness  to 
include  Business  in  their  curricula. 

A  fine-looking,  whole-souled  man  is  Hop- 
kins, not  quite  so  big  as  Barnes,  nor  so  noble 
and  kingly  of  mien,  yet  wearing  a  finer  and 
more  subtle  distinction.  Hopkins  is  more  of 
a  diplomat,  and  less  of  the  autocrat.  His  face 
has  few  furrows,  though  he  is  well  on  toward 
sixty,  and  his  blue  eyes  lack  all  suggestion  of 
menace.  He  is  the  sort  of  man  who  has  a  com- 
fortable chair  beside  his  desk  for  visitors. 
You  know  there  are  some  men  in  business 
who  banish  the  visitor's  chair  altogether  and 
make  their  callers  stand  —  on  the  theory  that 
they  will  go  away  sooner.  Not  that  Barnes 
is  this  sort  of  man!  No,  Barnes  is  never  fussy 
or  hurried,  and  the  details  of  his  great  whole- 
sale business  are  well  cared  for  outside  his 
private  office.  But  his  eyes  are  steel  and  he 
looks  through  you  uncomfortably  sometimes. 
Then  his  imperial  gives  you  a  sense  of  his 
importance. 

Hopkins  is  a  manufacturer  —  one  of  the 
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largest  of  his  kind  in  the  nation,  and  one  of 
the  most  successful.  He  rides  on  the  Limited 
train  of  business,  just  as  Barnes  does.  A  pe- 
culiar thing  about  success  in  business  is  this: 
No  one  type  of  man  has  a  mortgage  upon  it. 
This  is  encouraging,  for  we  fellow-mortals 
in  the  great  contest  are  oddly  different  in  per- 
sonal attributes.  We  must  look  deeper  for 
the  key  that  will  unlock  achievement. 

"  Speaking  of  slow  trains  and  switches," 
spoke  up  Greenleaf,  from  his  easy-chair  in  the 
observation-smoker,  "  reminds  me  of  the  time 
when  I  started  out  on  the  road  to  sell  gro- 
ceries. I  used  to  sit  around  a  good  deal  with 
my  feet  on  hotel  stoves  or  on  the  window-sill. 
Loafing  seemed  to  be  a  part  of  the  game. 
Often  I  had  to  wait  hours  for  a  train  after 
I  had  sold  all  my  dealers  in  a  town,  and  a 
hotel  chair  was  the  natural  place  in  which 
to  nurse  my  grouch  against  things  in  general. 
There  was  a  drygoods  salesman  named  Riggs 
who  was  everlastingly  after  me  to  take  up  side 
lines.  He  was  the  busiest  fellow  on  earth, 
was  Riggs.  I  don't  pretend  to  remember  all 
the  side  games  he  was  playing.  That  was  the 
reason  he  stayed  on  the  switches.  I  was  wise 

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ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

enough  to  get  on  to  the  main  selling  track, 
and  stay  there." 

"  It 's  a  safe  bet,"  observed  Barnes,  "  that 
this  chap  Riggs  is  down  and  out  to-day.  I 
don't  know  him  personally,  but  I  Ve  met  his 
kind  often." 

"  Yes,"  said  Greenleaf,  striking  a  match, 
"  Riggs  quit  the  road  years  ago.  The  last 
time  I  saw  him  his  wife  was  running  a  board- 
ing-house in  Chicago  and  he  was  taking  care 
of  the  furnace." 

"  And  you,"  suggested  Barnes,  "  are  on  the 
firing-line  stronger  than  ever?  I  don't  know 
you  —  don't  even  know  your  name,  sir;  but 
if  you  got  off  the  sidetracks  no  doubt  you  Ve 
arrived  at  your  destination." 

"  I  Ve  passed  the  destination  for  which  I 
headed  originally,"  returned  Greenleaf,  la- 
conically. "  I  Ve  got  by  several  big  termi- 
nals, but  there  's  always  a  bigger  one  beyond. 
One  advantage  of  a  Limited  train  lies  in  the 
connections  it  gives  a  man.  If  you  take  the 
Accommodation  on  the  Podunk  division  you 
get  off  out  in  the  country,  with  only  a  bog 
wagon  road  ahead.  But  if  you  ride  on  the 
Limited  you  '11  always  find  another  Limited 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

waiting  for  you,  to  take  you  along.  Or  if  you 
strike  tidewater  at  last,  you  can  get  a  palatial 
fast  steamer  to  take  you  across." 

Greenleaf  —  whom  I  didn't  know  then, 
but  know  very  well  to-day  —  is  still  a  sales- 
man, though  he  graduated  long  ago  from  gro- 
ceries. He  is  a  salesman  from  choice,  having 
held  some  fine  jobs  as  an  executive.  He  was 
sales  manager  for  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
distinctive  machinery  houses  in  America,  and 
the  salary  he  got  would  make  many  a  big 
banker  envious.  But  Greenleaf  likes  the  per- 
sonal game  of  selling  better  than  sitting  at  a 
desk  and  pulling  the  strings.  The  smoke  of 
salesmanship  is  incense  in  his  nostrils.  And 
I  happen  to  know  that  to-day  his  salary  is 
twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  while  his 
commissions  often  go  more  than  that. 

Ah,  Greenleaf!  What  an  inspiration  he 
has  been  to  countless  men  who  have  worked 
and  fought  and  bled  beside  him!  His  vigor- 
ous form  and  bronzed  face  often  rise  up  be- 
fore me  when  my  own  business  problems 
thicken,  and  straightway  my  discourage- 
ments take  wings.  You  know  there  are  some 
men  who  act  upon  you  like  the  music  of 

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ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

Sousa's  band  when  it  plays  one  of  its  immor- 
tal marches.  Wagner  and  those  other  pon- 
derous chaps  are  all  right,  but  when  I  'm  in 
the  battle  give  me  Sousa  and  Greenleaf ! 

I  think  you  would  put  Greenleaf  naturally 
in  the  class  with  Barnes  and  Hopkins,  al- 
though he  is  not  a  millionaire,  as  they  are. 
Indeed,  he  is  not  even  rich,  for  he  has  lived 
well  and  helped  hundreds  of  men  along  the 
rough  paths  of  salesmanship.  He  has  helped 
them  with  cash  as  well  as  wisdom,  and  I 
recently  learned  that  he  has  been  paying 
the  rent  for  two  years  of  that  boarding- 
house  run  by  his  down-and-out  road  friend, 
Riggs  of  Chicago.  You  see,  Riggs'  wife  is 
sick. 

Greenleaf,  by  the  way,  is  the  only  strictly 
salaried  man  among  the  seven  of  us  who  made 
that  journey  together  on  the  Overland  Lim- 
ited. I  'm  glad  we  had  at  least  one  employee 
in  the  party,  for  too  often  the  world  is  prone 
to  gauge  success  by  ignoring  the  man  who 
works  for  others.  Success  is  relative.  We 
can't  all  be  masters  and  millionaires.  If  we 
succeed  in  the  sphere  for  which  Fate  seems  to 
have  marked  us,  we  can  call  ourselves  success- 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ful.  Then  there  's  a  curious  habit  men  have, 
once  they  attain  an  end  they've  set  out  to 
reach:  they  reach  higher.  They  get  out  of 
one  sphere  into  another.  As  Greenleaf  says, 
there  are  other  terminals  beyond. 

Let  me  paint  Greenleaf  for  you,  very 
briefly,  for  I  want  you  to  carry  his  picture  in 
your  brain,  as  I  do.  I  don't  know  that  he 
typifies  the  common  run  of  mankind  any  bet- 
ter than  the  other  six  of  us,  but  somehow  he 
seems  closer  to  the  ordinary  man  to-day. 
He  's  a  salesman,  you  know!  He  touches  very 
intimately  our  great  national  trait  and  our 
people. 

He  stands  five  feet  and  eleven  inches  in  his 
shoes.  His  shoulders  are  broad  and  he  is 
slightly  inclined  to  be  portly.  He  is  still  in 
his  forties.  If  you  are  one  of  those  men  who 
have  been  cowed  by  that  artificial  age-limit, 
thirty-five,  I  wish  you  could  get  acquainted 
with  Greenleaf.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
age-limit  with  him.  No  man  could  look  into 
his  brown  eyes  and  read  there  a  limit  of  any 
sort.  The  only  limitations  he  recognizes  are 
those  which  cold  logic  makes  self-evident. 
He  would  not  attempt  to  climb  a  perpendicu- 

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ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

lar  rock  a  thousand  feet  high.     He  is  not  a 
man  of  blind,  unreasoning  enthusiasms. 

Greenleaf's  facial  lines  remind  one  a  little 
of  the  idealized  pictures  of  Henry  Clay  or 
Patrick  Henry,  except  that  Greenleaf  has  none 
of  the  hauteur  and  a  great  deal  of  the  human- 
ness.  I  imagine  that  as  a  youth  Greenleaf  was 
not  especially  good-looking,  but  the  strength 
and  kindliness  that  have  grown  in  his  face 
make  it  fascinating  to  look  upon  now.  He 
wears  only  a  short  mustache,  and  the  lines  in 
his  countenance  are  not  hidden.  But  they 
mean  something,  every  line  of  them.  Green- 
leaf's  face  is  one  he  has  cultivated  uncon- 
sciously. When  men  pursue  a  fixed  and  con- 
tinuous policy  they  grow  strangely  attractive 
-  if  that  policy  has  been  full  of  the  uplift. 

I  have  never  seen  Greenleaf  when  he  was  n't 
immaculately  dressed,  and  on  this  Overland 
Limited  trip  he  wore  his  usual  gray,  with  a 
white  waistcoat  and  crush  hat.  He  was  going 
to  California  on  a  rush  trip,  to  close  up  a  big 
machinery  sale,  and  he  told  me  that  he  'd 
barely  had  time,  before  leaving  New  York,  to 
get  his  suitcase  of  white  waistcoats.  This  is 
one  peculiarity  about  Greenleaf,  and  I  men- 

9 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

tion  it  here  because,  as  he  asserts,  every  sales- 
man ought  to  have  some  distinctive  peculiarity 
that  will  give  him  a  tinge  of  individuality. 
Greenleaf's  white  waistcoats  always  have  a 
narrow  black  line  following  the  border.  He 
has  them  made  to  order;  there  are  no  other 
waistcoats  like  them.  There  is  hardly  a  ma- 
chinery user  of  consequence  in  the  country 
who  does  n't  remember  them. 

We  were  well  out  of  Omaha  by  this  time, 
and  our  locomotive  was  picking  up  the  speed 
tremendously.  It  was  a  stormy  night  in  De- 
cember; so  stormy,  indeed,  that  we  had  fears 
of  a  snow  blockade  before  we  got  out  of  Ne- 
braska. A  soft,  clinging  snow  it  was,  and  we 
could  see  the  monstrous  flakes  as  they  swirled 
against  the  car  window  and  then  turned  to 
mist. 

"  Even  a  Limited  train  may  be  stalled,"  ob- 
served a  man  who  had  not  joined  our  conver- 
sation before.  "Your  analogies,  gentlemen, 
have  interested  me  very  much.  I  am  a  rail- 
road man  myself,  and,  as  such,  am  a  business 
man.  Your  metaphors  strike  me  as  wonder- 
fully apt.  But  I  wonder  if  any  one  of  you 
realizes  the  organization  and  tremendous  con- 

10 


ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

centration  involved  in  running  a  Limited. 
The  Limited  train  on  which  every  successful 
business  man  must  ride  —  the  figurative  Lim- 
ited that  picks  him  up  when  he  sits  down  at  his 
desk  —  is  even  more  apt  to  run  into  a  snow- 
drift than  is  the  train  on  which  we  are  travel- 
ing to-night." 

Now  this  new  philosopher  did  not  know 
Barnes  or  Hopkins,  or  he  never  would  have 
expressed  a  doubt  on  this  score.  Both  these 
men  well  knew  the  taut  task  of  keeping  a  busi- 
ness surging  ahead  through  storm  and  dark- 
ness. So,  too,  did  Greenleaf. 

It  was  Barnes  who  answered  —  Barnes,  the 
merchant.  "  Perhaps,"  he  said,  "  we  have 
not  made  ourselves  clear.  You  speak  truly. 
Getting  on  the  main  track,  either  in  business 
or  in  a  more  personal  endeavor,  is  only  the 
beginning.  The  hardest  part  of  it  is  to  stay 
on  the  main  track  and  to  keep  going.  The 
most  difficult  thing  in  business  is  not  to  es- 
tablish a  policy  and  a  method,  but  to  live  up 
to  them  six  days  a  week,  three  hundred  days 
a  year.  I  know  plenty  of  men  who  have 
a  beautiful  policy,  but  they  wear  it  only 
occasionally." 

ii 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"And  when  I  spoke  of  reserving  a  Pull- 
man berth  at  the  beginning  of  one's  career," 
explained  Hopkins,  "  I  did  not  mean  to  hint 
that  a  man  could  so  easily  escape  his  prob- 
lems. But  you  never  find  a  caboose  hitched 
to  a  train  that  goes  straight  through  to 
Success." 

The  stranger's  eyes  sparkled.  I  never  saw 
eyes  that  were  blacker  than  his,  nor  a  face 
that  was  easier  to  read  at  times  and  at  other 
times  more  difficult.  It  was  not  until  after- 
ward that  I  learned  he  was  Frothingham. 
He  was  the  great  Frothingham,  the  rail- 
road magnate  whose  name  and  deeds  were 
known  from  sea  to  sea,  and  across.  He 
was  going  West  to  join  his  private  car; 
and,  meanwhile,  he  was  making  an  inspec- 
tion, incognito,  of  the  Overland  Limited 
service. 

If  ever  there  was  a  self-made  man  in  rail- 
roading, Frothingham,  as  you  know,  is  one. 
He  started  away  down  as  brakeman,  and  his 
story  is  a  wonder-tale  —  a  veritable  romance 
of  magic.  At  least,  I  thought  it  magic  before 
I  met  Frothingham  on  that  journey.  After 
I  had  heard  the  inner  secret  from  his  own  lips 

12 


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I  perceived  that  magic  had  little  to  do  with 
it.  In  these  days  of  business  achievement  we 
are  wont  to  attribute  too  much  to  the  touch 
of  a  mystical  wizard.  Yet  I  never  heard  a 
life  story  that  impressed  me  more  deeply  with 
the  possibilities  that  lie  within  the  grasp  of 
the  man  who  deliberately  goes  about  rising. 

There  were  two  other  men  in  our  group, 
besides  myself.  They  had  not  seemed  inter- 
ested in  our  talk,  for  one  had  been  reading  a 
financial  newspaper  and  the  other  a  real-estate 
journal.  Already  I  had  spotted  the  one  for 
a  banker,  and  the  other,  naturally  enough,  for 
a  dealer  in  that  very  foundation  of  things, 
the  land.  Now  the  banker  put  aside  his 
periodical. 

"  You  men,"  he  observed,  "  have  been  talk- 
ing in  fairy-book  language.  Figures  of 
speech  are  pretty  to  hear,  but  they  don't 
count  for  much  in  actual,  everyday  life.  The 
only  thing  that  really  talks  in  business  is 
arithmetic." 

I  saw  Barnes  and  Hopkins  look  at  him 
quickly,  while  Greenleaf  measured  him  in 
some  amusement.  These  three  were  certainly 
imaginative  in  a  way;  but,  as  I  learned  in 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

my  subsequent  acquaintance  with  them,  they 
had  a  veritable  strangle-hold  on  business 
mathematics. 

"  I  don't  quite  agree  with  you,  sir,"  said 
Barnes.  He  had  been  in  the  act  of  lighting 
a  cigar,  but  he  held  it  in  his  fingers  and  let 
the  match  burn  out  unused.  Then  he  and  the 
banker  looked  each  other  in  the  eye  for  a 
moment,  in  a  silent  challenge.  The  banker, 
by  the  way,  turned  out  to  be  Dowe,  head  and 
chief  owner  of  the  Fourteenth  National  Bank 
in  New  York.  He  was  a  keen,  spare  man  of 
fifty,  void  of  hirsute  adornment,  and  appar- 
ently as  cold  as  a  clam.  This  estimate  I  after- 
ward revised. 

"  Imagination  should  not  be  allowed  to 
cloud  a  business  man's  power  of  addition,"  re- 
peated Dowe.  "  Two  and  two  make  four,  but 
some  men  mix  in  a  little  imagery  and  get  five 
or  more  for  the  answer.  This  habit,  gentle- 
men, is  the  bane  of  business.  It  turns  success 
into  failure." 

"  You  are  right,  yet  wrong,"  put  in  Hop- 
kins, in  a  conciliatory  voice;  he  was  a  good 
deal  of  a  humorist  himself  and  liked  to  in- 
dulge in  mildly  whimsical  speech.  He 


ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

lacked,  however,  the  vigorous  twists  of  fancy 
and  English  that  made  Barnes'  philosophy 
sparkle.  "  And  let  me  suggest,  my  dear  sir," 
he  added,  "  that  you  yourself  have  just  fallen 
into  a  metaphorical  lapse.  Your  summing  up 
of  the  cause  of  business  failure  is  the  most 
striking  and  euphonious  characterization 
I  Ve  heard." 

"  Nevertheless,"  declared  Barnes,  coming 
back  to  the  attack  while  he  let  another  match 
burn  his  fingers,  "  I  can't  agree  with  this 
gentleman.  Next  to  arithmetic,  my  friend, 
imagination  is  the  greatest  factor  in  success." 

At  this,  the  real-estate  man  came  into  the 
debate.  He  was  a  serious  chap  of  forty  or 
more,  with  a  short,  bristling  mustache  and 
nose  glasses  that  seemed  to  trouble  him. 
When  he  introduced  himself  shortly  after- 
ward we  discovered  that  he  was  Montgomery 
Gale,  whom  every  one  of  us  knew  by  name. 
Gale,  you  remember,  is  one  of  the  high  lights 
of  real-estate  in  Manhattan.  It  was  he  who 
delivered  a  lecture,  on  one  occasion,  on  the 
evils  of  imagination  in  real-estate.  If  I  mis- 
take not,  he  wrote  a  book,  too. 

"  There  are  two  brands  of  imagination,"  he 
15 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

said.      "  One    brand    is    the    sort    that    fools 
people;   the  other  brand  doesn't." 

"  Most  men  get  the  two  brands  confused," 
insisted  the  banker,  dryly.  "  They  get  so 
badly  mixed  that  they  hoodwink  themselves. 
No,  sir;  stick  to  arithmetic.  That's  the  key 


to  success." 


I  had  n't  said  anything  so  far,  but  now  I 
could  n't  resist.  The  train  was  booming  along 
through  the  night  at  tremendous  speed,  and 
the  hoarse  alarums  of  the  engine  came  back 
to  us  dully  above  the  roar  of  the  wheels. 

"  Success,"  said  I,  "  cannot  be  defined  in  the 
abstract.  It  is  folly  to  argue  the  mere  quali- 
ties that  go  to  make  it.  But  if  every  man  in 
this  group  were  to  tell  the  absolute  truth 
about  his  own  success,  I  imagine  we  'd  get 
something  tangible  out  of  it." 

My  name,  I  should  state,  is  Huntington 
Gaylord,  and  I  am  the  junior  partner  in  the 
great  department  store  of  Munn,  Moorehouse 
&  Gaylord.  People  know  me  familiarly  as 
the  "  Junior  Partner,"  perhaps  because  I  'm 
rather  young  for  my  job.  I  Ve  had  a  peculiar 
experience  in  wooing  Success,  and  I  'm  free 
to  say  that  I  Ve  got  the  old  dame  in  a  corner. 

16 


ON    OVERLAND    LIMITED 

I  don't  mean  that  I  have  the  whole  world  by 
the  tail;  when  a  man  thinks  he  has,  he  often 
gets  kicked  into  space  and  finds  his  grip  on 
the  tail  an  illusion.  But  for  the  present,  at 
least,  I  'm  away  ahead  of  the  game;  if  I  can 
stay  on  the  Limited  train,  I  '11  have  the  big- 
gest store  in  America  some  day. 

I  came  up  from  the  very  bottom,  and  came 
up  in  a  wonderfully  short  time,  and  without 
any  capital  to  start  on;  so  it  is  natural  that 
I  should  have  pronounced  ideas  on  this  most 
elusive  of  all  things,  success.  Perhaps  I  ex- 
pressed these  ideas  rather  freely,  once  I  began 
to  talk,  and  that  was  how  it  happened  that  we 
seven  men  told  the  stories  of  our  individual 
careers.  The  tales  were  not  all  told  that 
night.  Indeed,  so  deeply  interested  did  we 
become  in  this  strange  recital  that  the  jour- 
ney to  the  Pacific  would  have  been  almost 
forgotten  except  for  certain  things  that 
happened. 

I  am  setting  down  the  narratives  as  faith- 
fully as  I  can  recall  them,  in  the  full  belief 
that  I  am  performing  a  service  to  mankind 
that  cannot  be  estimated  in  value.  I  shall 
attempt  all  through  to  reproduce,  just  as  they 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

occurred,  the  comments  that  enlivened  the 
stories.  The  bold  and  grotesquely  worded 
philosophy  of  Barnes,  especially,  gave  the 
whole  a  charm  that  lingers  with  me  to  this 
day.  Indeed,  Barnes  stamped  himself  upon 
all  of  us  to  such  a  degree  that  we  came  uncon- 
sciously to  make  our  interpolations  in  imita- 
tion of  his  own  matchless  style. 


18 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  PINK  SOAP 

"TTTHEN  I  left  college  I  was  offered 
y  |r  a  job  in  a  boiler-shop,  which  I  de- 
clined. This  was  in  my  home  town, 
within  a  day's  ride  of  New  York.  The  only 
other  job  at  home  that  appealed  to  me  was  in 
a  bank,  but  that  job  I  could  n't  get.  You  see, 
there  was  a  general  conspiracy  among  my 
relatives  to  force  me  into  some  occupation 
where  I  would  have  to  labor  hard  for  a  few 
years  at  physical  toil.  My  father  and  uncles 
believed  in  this  sort  of  training  as  the  ground- 
work for  a  career.  I  did  n't,  so  I  packed  my 
grip  and  went  up  to  the  metropolis." 

It  was  the  banker,  Dowe,  who  began  the 
narratives.  He  was  chosen  by  a  toss-up  to 
start  the  thing  off.  In  this  gamble,  however, 
Dowe  himself  refused  to  join.  No  doubt  he 
would  have  preferred  to  settle  the  thing  by 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

some  arithmetical  test,  but  nobody  else  was 
inclined  to  do  it  that  way,  so  a  plain  gamble 
it  was  —  and  Dowe  lost. 

Yet  Dowe's  story  is  undoubtedly  the  fitting 
one  for  the  opening,  and  I  am  quite  sure  I 
should  have  placed  it  first  in  this  book,  even 
had  he  told  it  last.  Not  that  Dowe,  as  a 
banker,  stands  as  the  typical  man.  No,  few 
of  us  are  bankers;  the  great  majority  of  the 
people,  on  the  other  hand,  make  a  sad  tangle 
of  finance.  But  Dowe's  narrative  shows  a 
most  extraordinary  vision  over  the  whole 
great  field  of  human  endeavor.  Never  before 
or  since  have  I  heard  such  a  keen  and  wonder- 
ful word-picture  as  he  drew  of  the  causes  that 
underlie  all  failure,  all  success.  His  is  not 
the  life-story  of  a  banker  merely,  but  of  a  man 
who  has  cut  deep  into  the  sophistries  and 
foibles  of  mankind. 

I  wish,  hurriedly,  to  describe  Dowe  to  you 
more  fully  than  I  have  done.  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  New  York  men  can  be  told  at  a 
glance  from  Chicago  men,  or  from  any  other 
class  of  men  on  the  globe.  Of  course  only 
foolish  New  Yorkers  make  this  statement.  I 
have  lived  in  New  York  all  my  life,  and  when 

20 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

I  first  met  Dowe  that  night  on  the  Limited  I 
instantly  and  incorrectly  placed  his  home 
town  west  of  the  Mississippi.  In  my  travels 
I  have  seen  sheriffs  in  Missouri  and  United 
States  marshals  in  Oklahoma  who  were  very 
good  counterparts  of  this  Manhattan  banker. 
Perhaps  the  calling  of  these  Western  officials 
was,  in  a  way,  similar  to  Dowe's.  Perhaps 
the  same  characteristics  were  branded  on 
their  features  and  forms. 

I  can't  describe  this  man's  personal  atmos- 
phere. It  is  too  elusive.  When  you  look  him 
in  the  face  he  seems,  at  one  moment,  as  benev- 
olent as  a  bishop;  but  the  next  moment  you 
find  yourself  looking  into  eyes  that  are  as 
cautious  and  wary  as  those  of  a  lynx.  They 
are  the  eyes  of  a  vigilante,  and  if  you  have  a 
half-truth  or  a  hearsay  report  on  your  lips, 
you  do  not  utter  it.  You  know  that  Dowe  will 
measure  it  up  for  exactly  what  it  is  worth. 
Yet  in  manner  and  words  this  New  York 
financier  is  most  polite  and  agreeable,  even  if 
lacking  in  Hopkins'  cordiality,  or  Green- 
leaf's  singular  charm,  or  Barnes'  air  of 
command. 

In  feature,  Dowe  is  a  trifle  sharp;  in  com- 
21 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

plexion  pale;  in  figure  inclined  to  be  hollow- 
chested.  In  attire,  he  comes  nowhere  near  the 
typical  well-dressed  New  Yorker.  He  pays 
well  for  his  clothes,  but  his  tailor  is  a  heretic. 
There  are  shops  in  New  York  that  make  a 
specialty  of  dressing  men  with  odd  traits  of 
taste.  Dowe  is  one  of  these  men.  He  sticks 
to  the  frock,  and  his  hat  is  a  cross  between 
the  sombrero  and  the  crush.  His  ties  are  in- 
variably black  bows,  and  his  shirts  are  white 
and  stiff,  without  pleats.  Altogether,  there 
is  something  about  him  that  gives  you  pause. 
If  you  have  a  gold  brick  to  sell,  you  bid  him 
good-day. 

"  From  the  beginning,"  he  went  on,  "  I  had 
an  ambition  to  get  into  a  bank.  My  first  ap- 
plications for  work,  then,  were  in  that  direc- 
tion. At  every  bank  I  was  asked  my  age  and 
experience  —  and  that  seemed  to  settle  my 
chances.  At  twenty-two,  and  without  any 
practical  knowledge,  I  was  n't  wanted. 

"  I  have  occasion  to  remember  one  such 
application,  in  particular.  I  was  given  a 
foolscap  sheet  full  of  figures  to  add,  and  while 
I  worked  upon  it  a  hawk-eyed  man  with  a 
watch  timed  me.  Then  he  took  my  name  and 

22 


STORY     OF    THE     PINK     SOAP 

hall-bedroom  address,  and  said  the  bank 
would  let  me  know  when  it  wanted  me. 
Well,  it  did  let  me  know  —  seven  long  years 
afterward.  But  just  then  none  of  the  banks 
needed  me.  My  money  dwindled  away,  and 
even  with  my  college  education  I  seemed 
about  the  most  worthless  specimen  on  earth. 

"  For  the  time  being  I  gave  up  my  banking 
mania.  Desperately,  I  went  from  place  to 
place  seeking  work  of  any  sort.  When  things 
were  blackest  and  I  had  scarcely  a  dollar  in 
my  pocket,  I  was  offered  two  jobs  inside  of 
an  hour.  The  first  was  a  laborer's  place  in  a 
Washington  Street  commission  house;  the 
second  a  job  as  office  helper  with  a  wholesale 
concern.  I  took  the  latter,  at  eight  dollars  a 
week,  although  the  other  would  have  paid 
ten.  The  office  job  came  a  little  nearer  to 
banking.  I  was  firmly  resolved  that  some  day 
I  'd  get  into  a  bank. 

"  I  got  my  first  lesson  in  banking  sooner 
than  I  expected,  for  I  was  put  at  work  copy- 
ing a  list  of  my  firm's  assets  and  liabilities, 
which,  the  bookkeeper  told  me,  was  to  go  to 
the  bank  as  data  in  connection  with  pending 
loans. 

23 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  The  original  figures  had  been  furnished 
by  the  bookkeeper,  but  after  my  carefully 
written  statement  had  gone  to  the  '  old  man's  ' 
office  it  came  back  to  me  all  marked  with 
pencil  figures  and  erasures;  I  was  instructed 
to  rewrite  it  and  put  in  the  new  figures. 

"  Of  course  I  was  green,  but  not  so  green 
that  I  could  n't  see  what  my  employer  had 
done.  He  had  bolstered  up  the  assets,  and 
trimmed  the  liabilities.  The  merchandise  in 
stock  had  taken  a  jump,  and  even  the  fixtures 
had  suddenly  gained  a  thousand  dollars  in 
value.  In  sixty  minutes  the  annual  business 
had  increased  twenty  per  cent. 

"  Right  here  let  me  say  that  this  wholesaler 
was  no  thief,  and  had  no  intention  of  injuring 
the  bank.  He  was  a  decent  sort  of  man,  hon- 
est in  his  commercial  transactions.  But  you 
know  there  are  little  fibs  in  society  that  we  call 
*  white  lies.'  So  in  business  there  are  small 
pleasantries  like  this  neat  statement  for  the 
bank.  In  other  words,  as  the  bookkeeper  put 
it,  we  were  simply  '  making  a  front.'  When 
folks  went  out  to  borrow  money,  he  opined, 
this  had  to  be  done. 

*  The  bank  loaned  the  money.     I  do  not 
24 


STORY    OF    THE     PINK    SOAP 

wish  to  be  understood  here  as  presenting  this 
bank  as  a  fair  type,  but  you  know  there  are 
some  banks  run  by  poor  business  men.  If  the 
contrary  were  true,  there  would  be  fewer  mis- 
managed commercial  houses.  And  please  re- 
member that  in  telling  you  this  bit  of  history 
I  am  casting  no  reflections  on  business  men 
as  a  whole.  The  country  is  full  of  able  man- 
agers. But  there  are  plenty  of  individuals  in 
business,  nevertheless,  who  might  put  the 
coat  on. 

"  During  the  ensuing  six  months  I  saw  sev- 
eral loans  put  through  in  the  same  way,  and 
each  time  the  financial  prestidigitator  at  the 
head  of  the  firm  went  himself  one  better. 
Finally  the  bank  asked  for  a  statement  show- 
ing the  assets  in  greater  detail.  I  was  set  at 
work  making  a  list  of  the  customers  who  owed 
us  money  on  account.  More  than  half  this 
indebtedness  was  long  past  due;  much  of  it 
hopelessly  so.  Notwithstanding  this  fact,  I 
was  instructed  to  enter  most  of  the  items  under 
the  heading  '  Good  Accounts.' 

"  My  conscience  had  troubled  me,  and  my 
sympathies  were  with  the  bank.  Besides,  I 
knew  something  about  overdue  accounts.  In 

25 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

my  Sophomore  year  at  college  I  had  loaned 
ten  dollars  to  Con  Jenks,  a  classmate,  and  I 
had  long  since  wiped  it  off  the  slate  as  a  tan- 
gible asset. 

"  Now  I  hinted  to  my  employer  that  some 
of  the  antiquated  items  might  properly  go 
under  the  heading  '  Accounts  Doubtful.' 

"  I  was  ordered,  with  some  heat,  to  make 
out  the  statement  as  directed,  or  quit.  My 
dander  was  up,  and  I  quit.  If  it  had  n't  been 
for  playing  the  role  of  informer,  I  might  have 
gone  to  the  bank  with  my  story.  Besides,  I 
thought  it  unlikely  that  the  bank  would  need 
the  advice  of  an  eight-dollar  clerk. 

"  Shortly  afterward,  however,  the  bank 
failed,  and  along  with  it  this  wholesale  house 
and  other  concerns. 

"  I  was  out  of  work,  but  I  had  learned 
something,  the  value  of  which  I  did  not  real- 
ize at  the  time.  Again  I  renewed  my  ambi- 
tions to  get  into  banking,  but  again  I  met  the 
same  rebuffs.  During  my  weeks  of  idleness 
I  wandered  about  the  mystical  regions  of 
finance  that  lay  below  Fulton  Street.  I  was 
drawn  to  the  financial  atmosphere  just  as  some 
men  are  drawn  toward  electricity  or  chemis- 

26 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

try.  Most  of  my  evenings  I  spent  in  the  libra- 
ries reading  all  I  could  find  on  the  subject. 

"I  tramped  from  the  Battery  to  Spuyten 
Duyvil  a  dozen  times  before  I  finally  secured 
work  again  —  as  assistant  bookkeeper  in  a 
soap  factory. 

"  Not  long  afterward  the  bookkeeper  died 
and  I  fell  heir  to  his  job  at  twelve-fifty  per 
week.  Presently  I  discovered  some  curious 
things.  I  'm  going  to  tell  you  a  little  about 
them  because  they  bear  directly  on  the  chief 
specialty  every  good  banker  leans  upon.  That 
specialty  may  be  expressed  in  two  words :  l  the 
truth.'  You  see,  all  this  time  I  was  learning 
the  banking  business  without  knowing  it. 
Banking  is  only  a  shrewd  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness in  general.  If  I  had  n't  learned  all  these 
things  as  I  did,  I  'd  never  have  got  into  a  bank. 
I  think  a  good  rule  for  business  men  to  follow 
would  be  to  imagine  themselves  in  training 
for  a  bank  president's  job. 

"  Well,  you  Ve  heard  the  old  saying  that 
figures  can't  lie.  That  is  n't  so.  On  occa- 
sion, figures  can  be  the  most  blatant  liars  in 
Christendom." 

When  Dowe  made  this  undeniable  asser- 
27 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

tion  Barnes  sat  up  in  his  chair  with  some  vigor. 
His  eyes  sparkled.  "  Not  only  can  they  lie," 
he  agreed,  "  but  they  are  mighty  good  acro- 
bats. They  can  juggle  and  dance  and  do  tricks 
of  false  magic.  Unless  you  get  figures  by  the 
throat,  you  never  can  depend  on  them.  I  hold, 
as  I  told  you  before,  that  arithmetic  is  not  the 
only  important  factor  in  success." 

Dowe  turned  his  cold  eyes  upon  Barnes,  and 
I  could  see  a  peculiar  movement  about  his  thin 
lips.  It  was  the  symptom,  perhaps,  of  a  smile 
away  down  inside. 

"  In  my  bank,"  he  said,  "  we  throttle  them. 
We  have  our  fingers  on  the  throat  of  every 
figure  that  gets  inside  our  doors.  You  will  re- 
call, Mr.  Barnes,  that  I  spoke  of  arithmetic, 
not  false  arithmetic." 

"  Go  ahead,  then,"  said  Barnes,  leaning 
back  again.  "You  became  bookkeeper,  I 
believe  you  told  us,  in  a  soap  factory." 

"  I  did.  My  immediate  employer  was  a 
man  named  Sullivan.  Back  of  him,  however, 
were  a  lot  of  stockholders  who  really  owned 
most  of  the  business.  They  looked  to  him  for 
the  profits. 

"  Now  Sullivan  belonged  to  a  type  of  men 
28 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

I  see  all  about  me  in  my  daily  business.  His 
figures  lied  —  they  could  not  tell  the  truth. 
He  was  a  mathematical  romancer;  he  wrote 
fairy  tales  with  numerals  instead  of  words. 
For  hours  he  would  sit  at  his  desk,  with  a  pen- 
cil and  pad,  and  get  up  travesties  on  true 
mathematics.  As  you  have  astutely  observed, 
Mr.  Barnes,  figures  can  perform  acrobatic 
feats.  Sullivan's  certainly  did. 

"  Let  me  explain  briefly.  The  chief  prod- 
uct of  the  plant  was  laundry  soap  in  two  or 
three  varieties,  but  Sullivan  himself  was  more 
interested  in  a  pink  medicated  soap  which  he 
had  invented.  It  was  his  hobby,  and  he  be- 
lieved that  eventually  it  would  make  him  a 
Croesus,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  stockholders 
rich  along  with  him.  But  the  indisputable 
fact  stared  him  in  the  face  that  the  pink  soap 
just  at  present  was  costing  far  more  to  manu- 
facture than  it  returned  in  sales. 

"  The  other  directors,  not  having  invented 
the  pink  product,  were  not  so  keen  about  it. 
They  cared  more  about  profits  in  hand  than 
in  the  future,  even  if  those  profits  came  from 
laundry  soap  that  smelled  like  boiled  cabbage. 

1  It  was  up  to  Sullivan,  then,  to  bring  down 
29 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

the  cost  of  making  his  scented  pink  cakes  and 
to  show  an  immediate  profit  from  Depart- 
ment B,  in  which  this  product  was  made. 

"  Sullivan's  calculations  showed  that  the 
actual  cost  of  the  pink  soap  was  something  like 
seven  cents  a  cake;  to  make  it  profitable  he 
had  to  get  it  under  four  cents.  All  things  are 
possible  to  the  romancer,  and  this  rather  diffi- 
cult problem  in  manufacturing  was  easy  for 
Sullivan.  I,  as  the  bookkeeper,  knew  exactly 
how  he  did  it. 

"  In  a  nutshell,  the  three  extra  cents  had  to 
be  disposed  of  somehow.  Well,  there  were 
three  other  departments  in  the  factory  —  A, 
C,  and  D.  All  of  these  made  laundry  soap. 
So  Sullivan  charged  one  cent  to  A,  one  to  C, 
and  one  to  D.  Presto!  the  thing  was. done. 

"  Now  I  want  to  say  that  Sullivan,  like  my 
former  employer,  was  an  honest  man.  That 
is,  he  had  no  intention  of  wronging  anybody 
or  stealing  anything.  His  imagination,  never- 
theless, was  dishonest.  Men  of  his  class  are 
very  plentiful.  They  are  fine  fellows  often, 
but  they  fail  in  what  they  undertake  because 
they  believe  in  fairy  figures.  Arithmetic  to 
them  is  a  most  wonderful  volume  of  romance. 

30 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK     SOAP 

" l  You  see,'  Sullivan  explained  to  me, 
*  I  Ve  got  to  use  my  best  judgment  as  the 
manager  of  this  business;  otherwise  the  plant 
would  go  to  pieces  quick.  I  Ve  got  to  plan 
for  the  future.  My  associates,  not  being  gen- 
uine business  men,  look  only  at  the  present. 
But  I  '11  make  'em  all  millionaires  with  my 
pink  beauty!  Just  watch  me! ' 

"  So  Department  B  began  to  show  profits, 
and  after  a  while  the  stockholders  were  con- 
vinced that  they  had  a  good  thing  in  the  med- 
icated soap.  But  Department  A  was  running 
behind  and  they  decided  to  close  it  out  and 
devote  more  attention  to  the  pink  product. 

"  Sullivan  was  thus  forced  to  readjust  his 
figures,  for  the  three  cents  now  had  to  be 
divided  between  Departments  C  and  D.  Un- 
happily, the  additional  burden  made  C  and 
D  loom  up  in  forbidding  proportions.  The 
cost  of  making  the  laundry  soap,  apparently, 
was  eating  up  all  the  profits.  Still,  Sullivan 
had  faith  in  his  medicated  soap  and  he  hung 
on  with  grim  determination. 

"  Perhaps  he  might  have  pulled  through 
and  made  a  fortune,  after  all,  if  the  directors 
had  n't  grown  impatient  over  the  unprofitable 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

laundry  soap.  They  decided  to  cut  it  down 
heavily  and  devote  themselves  largely  to  the 
pink  cakes,  since  that  was  the  only  product  of 
the  plant  that  was  paying. 

"  Sullivan  was  in  a  bad  hole.  He  and  I 
knew  that  nothing  but  the  laundry  soap  had 
been  holding  up  the  wabbly  pink  ovals.  It 
had  all  been  a  wonderful  fairy  tale,  but 
now  the  house  was  coming  down  over  his 
head.  The  factory  went  broke  in  three 
months. 

"  Once  more  I  was  out  of  a  job,  after  two 
years  at  twelve  dollars  and  a  half  a  week. 
My  ambition  to  be  a  banker  seemed  quite  as 
much  of  a  fairy  story  as  Sullivan's  dream. 
Yet  —  as  I  saw  it  afterward--!  was  really 
a  niche  nearer  my  ultimate  career.  This  ex- 
perience in  the  soap  factory  illumined  my 
path  for  me.  The  best  lesson  a  banker  can 
learn  is  that  figures  often  lie.  And  the  best 
financial  lesson  anybody  can  learn  is  to  make 
figures  tell  the  truth.  Throttle  them,  as 
Barnes  says,  until  they  do." 

Once  more  Barnes  sat  up  in  his  chair,  but 
now  there  was  no  antagonism  in  his  eyes. 
Dowe's  graphic  characterization  of  this  type 

32 


STORY    OF    THE     PINK    SOAP 

of  men  was  irresistible.  Barnes  and  all  of  us 
knew  that  its  realism  was  not  overdone. 

"  I  take  back  what  I  said,"  he  apologized. 
"  You  have  put  the  proposition  with  all  the 
wisdom  of  truth.  While  I  still  claim  for 
imagination  a  vital  part  in  success,  I  am 
deeply  impressed  with  this  story  of  the  pink 
soap,  sir.  I  Ve  met  many  lying  figures  my- 
self. I  Ve  seen  them  waylay  thousands  of 
men.  I  Ve  seen  a  bunch  of  lying  figures  walk 
into  many  a  widow's  home  and  steal  her  little 
inheritance.  I  Ve  seen  them  take  the  money 
of  orphans  without  the  slightest  compunction. 
I  Ve  seen  them  pick  the  pockets  of  old  men 
who  had  worked  a  lifetime  to  save  a  meager 
competence.  But  stranger  than  all  this,  I  Ve 
seen  these  untruthful  figures  destroy  the  most 
promising  business  houses,  just  as  they  de- 
stroyed Sullivan's  soap  factory.  It  is  perhaps 
natural  that  widows  and  children  and  old 
men  should  fall  victims  of  romance,  but  that 
hard-headed  business  men  should  do  so  is  a 
sad  commentary  on  the  present-day  methods 
of  training  executives." 

At  this,  Banker  Dowe  smiled.  He  is  not 
a  smiling  man  as  a  rule,  but  when  his  grave 

33 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

face  does  relax  he  reveals  an  unusual  mag- 
netism. And  now  he  proved  himself  quite 
as  capable  as  Barnes  in  the  power  of  imagery. 

"  I  confess,"  he  said,  "  that  I  like  your 
manner  of  putting  these  things.  Your  habit 
of  clothing  business  truths  in  attractive  dress 
is  one  that  drives  those  truths  home  irresist- 
ibly. I  am  not  versed  in  similes,  apologues, 
or  tropes,  but  I  shall  attempt  one  now :  I  never 
accept  any  figures  to-day  unless  they  show  a 
proper  pedigree.  Every  day  I  advise  men  to 
beware  of  figures.  Whether  they  are  buying 
a  bond  or  a  house,  or  manufacturing  soap,  or 
selling  groceries,  I  say  to  them  in  effect: 
*  Don't  bother  with  anybody's  figures  unless 
they  come  to  you  well  introduced;  then,  be- 
fore you  give  up  any  cash,  require  those  fig- 
ures to  undergo  a  physical  examination  and  a 
sanity  test.' ' 

Now  this  of  itself  was  a  very  good  example 
of  rhetorical  figure,  and  we  all  laughed. 
Barnes  and  Dowe  shook  hands. 

'l  Well,"  the  banker  resumed,  "  I  was  out 
of  a  job  and  idle,  so  I  ran  up  to  my  home  town 
to  see  my  folks  and  the  young  woman  to  whom 
I  was  engaged.  I  'd  been  engaged  ever  since 

34 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

I  quit  college.  Indeed,  we  had  planned  to  be 
married  shortly  after  my  graduation,  or  as 
soon  as  I  got  a  nice  little  start  in  New  York. 
My  start  in  the  metropolis,  however,  had  not 
been  conducive  to  matrimonial  plans,  nor  had 
it  added  anything  to  the  respect  in  which  the 
young  lady's  father  held  me. 

"  Nevertheless,  I  was  not  wholly  a  failure, 
for  I  came  home  in  good  health,  well  dressed, 
and  with  cash  in  my  pocket.  In  two  and  a 
half  years  I  had  saved  between  three  and  four 
hundred  dollars.  New  York  had  not  con- 
quered me  —  nor  had  it  conquered  my  de- 
termination to  do  what  I  had  set  out  to 
accomplish." 

Dowe's  lips  came  firmly  together  for  a  few 
moments,  and  I  saw  a  glitter  in  his  eyes.  He 
was  the  sort  of  man  who  does  what  he  plans, 
not  by  walking  roughshod  over  the  world,  as 
now  and  then  a  man  may  do,  but  quietly  and 
with  deep  analysis  of  every  step.  This  is  the 
kind  that  counts  most  in  achievement. 

'  You  will  pardon  me,  gentlemen,"  he  con- 
tinued, as  his  elusive  smile  played  again  about 
his  mouth,  "  if  I  lapse  for  a  minute  into  ro- 
mance. There  is  an  undercurrent  of  romance 

35 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

in  all  business.  It  lies  deeper  than  the  arith- 
metic, and  usually  it  has  a  profound  and  far- 
reaching  effect  on  success.  I  should  be  untrue 
to  the  realities  of  life  if  I  omitted  to  touch  upon 
the  part  romance  played  in  my  own  success." 

"  By  all  means!  "  Barnes  hastened  to  agree. 
"  There  is  a  love  story  that  runs  through  every 
business.  I  would  n't  give  much  for  the  busi- 
ness without  it!  I  have  always  held  that  the 
influence  of  women  is  one  of  the  mightiest 
factors  in  any  undertaking.  Let  us  have  the 
love  story,  Dowe!  " 

"Yes,"  assented  Hopkins;  "give  us  the 
love  story,  of  course!  " 

I  was  about  to  add  my  own  approval,  for, 
being  unmarried  and  not  yet  thirty  at  the 
time,  the  subject  had  some  interest.  Besides, 
I  was  keen  to  get  in  touch  with  any  influence 
that  would  add  to  the  extraordinary  success 
I  had  so  far  accomplished.  My  business  had 
given  me  small  time  for  romance,  and  mar- 
riage I  had  considered  only  as  a  vague  possi- 
bility of  the  far-away  future  —  when  the  store 
of  Munn,  Moorehouse  &  Gaylord  should 
be  the  very  biggest  and  most  wonderful  of  all 
stores  in  the  world.  I  was  about  to  add  my 

36 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

own  approval,  I  say,  when  I  suddenly  saw, 
through  the  mist  of  tobacco  smoke  that  half 
obscured  the  car,  a  vision  in  the  form  of  a 
young  woman.  It  was  strange  that  this  wil- 
lowy girl  should  appear  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  six  of  us  had  attuned  our  ears  for 
the  romance  Dowe  had  promised. 

It  was  plain  enough  to  me  that  the  girl  was 
frightened.  She  had  scarcely  expected  to  find 
the  car  blockaded  by  seven  smoking  human 
chimneys,  huddled  together  in  ungraceful 
attitudes;  and  now  for  a  second  or  two  she 
stood  in  uncertainty,  and  then  turned  and  fled. 
I  am  sure  I  never  saw  a  more  pleasing  exhi- 
bition of  womanly  confusion  than  the  young 
lady  made  when  she  vanished  back  of  the  fog 
of  Havana  vapor,  to  be  seen  no  more  that 
night.  Nor  did  she  give  any  heed --if,  in- 
deed, she  heard  —  to  the  voice  of  Banker  Dowe 
calling  after  her:  "  Dorothy!  One  moment, 
Dorothy!  Comeback!" 

"  Ah,  well!  "  said  he,  settling  back.  "  Ah, 
well!  no  wonder  we  frightened  her.  Dorothy 
is  my  daughter,  you  know.  She  was  coming, 
I  suppose,  to  escort  me  back  to  the  sleeping- 
car.  Now  let  me  see!  I  was  talking,  I  be- 

37 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

lieve,  about  the  influence  romance  has  upon 
business.  Well,  the  romance  I  ran  upon  up 
there  in  my  home  town  was  most  sudden  and 
unexpected,  and  its  effect  upon  my  subsequent 
career  was  most  marked." 

He  paused  and  ran  his  hand  across  his  fore- 
head. Perhaps  his  arithmetic  troubled  him, 
for  mathematics  and  love  do  not  go  well  to- 
gether. And,  as  he  paused  half  a  minute  or 
so,  I  shut  my  eyes  and  still  saw  the  figure  of 
Dorothy  as  it  vanished  like  one  of  those  illu- 
sions one  sees  in  the  motion  pictures.  For  the 
life  of  me  I  could  not  have  described  her,  any 
more  than  I  could  have  stamped  out  the  figure 
she  had  left  on  my  brain. 

"  My  prospective  father-in-law,"  Dowe  re- 
sumed, "  came  directly  to  the  point  one  even- 
ing, in  the  presence  of  the  girl  herself.  *  I 
cannot  permit  my  daughter  to  marry  a  no- 
madic bookkeeper,'  he  said,  in  a  quiet  but 
emphatic  voice.  '  Had  you  remained  here  at 
home,  sir,  and  shown  a  disposition  to  settle 
down  and  work,  I  should  have  been  willing  to 
receive  you  as  a  son-in-law  —  at  the  proper 
time.  But  in  New  York  you  have  done  noth- 
ing; nor  is  there  any  possibility  that  you  ever 

38 


"The  only  ultimatum  I  shall  recognize  must  come  from 
your  daughter  " 


STORY    OF    THE     PINK    SOAP 

will.  New  York  is  a  huge  and  hollow  sham. 
It  is,  perhaps,  the  place  for  the  strong,  but  not 
for  the  weak.  It  is  chiefly  made  up  of  failure, 
and  my  daughter  shall  never,  with  my  consent, 
embark  in  that  current  of  drifting  poverty  and 
hopeless  submersion.  I  take  it,  Mr.  Dowe, 
that  I  have  made  myself  clear.' 

"  '  You  have,'  said  I.  Now  I  knew  that  the 
old  gentleman  had  his  eyes  on  a  rising  young 
drygoods  merchant  of  the  town,  and  hoped  to 
claim  him  some  day  as  a  son-in-law,  once  he 
had  disposed  of  me.  The  thought  filled  me 
with  grim  determination.  l  You  have  made 
yourself  clear,'  I  repeated,  l  but  the  only  ulti- 
matum I  shall  recognize  must  come  from  your 
daughter,  sir!  I  may  have  more  education 
than  brains,  but  any  drygoods  man  who  gets 
her  away  from  me  —  without  her  own  con- 
sent —  will  have  to  fight  a  chap  who  's  played 
football!' 

"  I  went  out  proudly.  The  next  night  I 
left  for  New  York — and  the  girl  went  with 
me.  We  'd  been  married  ten  minutes  before 
the  train  left.  Now  this  was  a  rash  thing  to 
do;  don't  understand  that  I  advise  men  to 
imitate  me.  In  my  particular  case,  however, 

39 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

it  really  helped  me.  I  simply  had  to  sink  or 
swim,  and  I  swam.  It  gave  me  the  impulse 
to  succeed.  So  I  say  that  even  in  banking  one 
should  not  overlook  the  mighty  influence  ex- 
erted by  women  —  for  success  or  for  failure. 
The  right  sort  of  woman  -  -  But  I  am  digress- 
ing, gentlemen.  I  have  no  intention  of  dis- 
cussing here  the  various  ways  in  which 
womankind  may  affect  a  business." 

It  was  a  singular  thing,  I  was  reflecting, 
that  my  own  career  had  been  brightened  by 
no  romance.  I  fell  into  a  reverie  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  scarcely  heard  what  Dowe  went 
on  to  tell.  I  know,  however,  that  he  and  his 
bride  went  to  housekeeping  in  a  two-room  flat 
on  Lexington  Avenue.  This  they  furnished 
for  ninety-nine  dollars  and  ninety-nine  cents, 
and  then  spent  a  honeymoon  viewing  the  won- 
ders of  the  metropolis  together. 

"  It  was  the  same  old  story  when  I  started 
out  to  get  work,"  he  said.  By  this  time  I  had 
come  out  of  my  dream.  "  I  went  to  all  the 
New  York  banks,"  he  went  on,  "  and  those 
in  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  and  Hoboken.  For 
a  week  or  two  I  haunted  the  financial  institu- 
tions, and  then  I  reluctantly  reached  the  con- 

40 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

elusion  that  my  time  had  n't  yet  come.  I 
was  n't  ripe  for  the  banking  business. 

"  I  went  home  one  night  worn  and  discour- 
aged. New  York  did,  indeed,  seem  a  huge 
aggregation  of  failure  and  hopelessness.  My 
money  was  fast  slipping  away,  and  now  there 
were  two  of  us  to  care  for.  My  wife  met  me 
at  the  door.  '  See  here,'  she  said;  1 1  Ve  got 
it  all  figured  out  for  you.  You  must  get  into 
business  for  yourself.'  Then  she  showed  me 
a  sheet  of  paper  on  which  she  had  written  a 
classified  advertisement  offering  my  services 
as  an  expert  accountant  in  straightening  out 
tangled  accounts. 

"  Now,  up  to  that  point,  gentlemen,  I  'd 
never  looked  at  myself  in  the  light  of  an  ex- 
pert. Until  a  man  estimates  himself  at  his 
full  worth,  he  '11  never  attain  the  altitude  he 
deserves.  But  my  wife's  confidence  imbued 
me  with  a  mighty  resolution.  Even  if  I  were 
not  much  of  an  expert,  I  'd  become  one,  I  told 
her.  I  'd  do  the  thing  or  perish  in  the  attempt! 

"  That  evening  she  and  I  together  rewrote 
the  little  advertisement;  many  times  we  wrote 
and  rewrote  it,  and  finally  when  it  was  printed 
next  day  in  the  World  it  was  like  this: 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"'Make  your  business  tell  you  the  truth;  if 
there  are  false  figures  on  your  books  they  will  ruin 
you.  Let  me  tell  you  the  story  of  the  pink  soap. 
Write  Expert  Auditor,  —  Lexington  Ave.' 

"  It  is  strange  that  so  many  business  men 
must  hire  an  expert  accountant  to  find  out 
why  they  are  losing  money.  I  often  marveled 
at  the  apparent  helplessness  of  business  con- 
cerns to  do  these  things  themselves.  The  ex- 
pert simply  uses  the  common  intelligence  that 
ought  to  be  a  part  of  every  organization. 

"  But  the  pink  soap  story  caught  a  great 
many  customers.  I  '11  skip  the  details.  Be- 
ginning in  a  small  way,  I  began  to  straighten 
out  the  books  of  New  York  houses.  As  my 
experience  grew,  I  undertook  bigger  jobs.  In 
almost  every  case,  I  found  that  the  truth  had 
been  juggled  with,  either  through  ignorance 
or  in  the  blind  pursuit  of  a  phantom.  Per- 
haps two-thirds  of  the  men  for  whom  I 
worked  had  deliberately  twisted  their  figures, 
not  with  the  intention  of  robbing  anybody, 
but  in  the  hope  of  making  two  and  two  foot 
up  six. 

"  At  the  end  of  two  years  I  was  earning  four 
or  five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  employing 

42 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

several  assistants.  We  were  now  living  in  a 
comfortable  apartment,  but  still  on  Lexington 
Avenue.  One  Christmas  my  wife's  father  and 
mother  came  down  to  see  us.  Yes,  we  got 
their  blessing.  You  see,  the  old  gentleman 
had  failed  in  his  brick  and  tile  business.  I 
found  out  afterward  where  a  lot  of  figures 
had  been  playing  balloon  with  him  for  years. 
However,  I  always  had  a  tender  regard  for 
the  old  man ;  he  was  a  fine,  honest  character, 
and  a  good  grandfather. 

"  I  pass  over  the  next  two  or  three  years.  I 
was  now  earning  a  net  income  of  twelve  or 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  a  good 
deal  of  my  work  was  done  for  banks.  I  was 
often  called  upon  to  make  special  investiga- 
tions and  audits  of  commercial  houses  that 
were  having  trouble  over  their  banking 
credits,  and  in  this  way  I  came  to  get  the 
bankers'  viewpoint  and  atmosphere.  My 
work  attracted  the  attention  of  the  best  com- 
mercial banks  in  Manhattan. 

"  Nevertheless,  I  was  surprised  one  day 
when  I  received  an  offer  from  the  bank  where 
I  had  footed  up  the  block  of  figures  seven 
years  before.  This  institution  wanted  a  man 

43 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

to  take  general  charge  of  its  commercial  loans, 
subject,  of  course,  to  the  direction  of  the 
president.  As  the  latter  expressed  it  to  me, 
he  desired  a  '  cold-blooded  '  man.  In  other 
words,  he  wanted  a  man  who  was  trained  in 
eliminating  the  visionary  elements  in  business. 
The  truth  about  the  bank's  borrowers,  he  said, 
would  be  worth  a  salary  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars  a  year. 

"  I  assumed  the  place,  with  a  title  of  vice- 
president.  It  was  a  proud  day,  I  assure  you. 
I  had  traveled  a  roundabout  way,  but  I  had 
reached  the  goal  I  set  out  years  before  to  at- 
tain. The  best  of  it  was  that  in  the  end  it  had 
come  to  me  unsolicited. 

"  The  best  positions  almost  always  come 
that  way.  The  young  man  who  goes  to  New 
York  or  Chicago  or  San  Francisco,  or  the  boy 
who  stays  at  home,  is  practically  certain  to 
have  good  jobs  offered  him  if  he  really  goes 
about  the  task  of  building  up  sound  judgment 
and  knowledge  in  the  field  he  enters.  There 
is  so  much  false  judgment  all  around  him,  so 
much  mediocre  knowledge,  so  little  grasp  on 
the  truth  of  things,  that  he  's  pretty  sure  to 
win  if  he  sticks  to  the  motto  that  two  and  two 

44 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

cannot  possibly  make  more  than  four.  More- 
over, comparatively  few  men  have  to  take  the 
circuitous  route  that  I  traveled." 

"  The  average  young  man,"  said  Barnes, 
breaking  in,  "  can  take  a  straight  course  if  he 
surveys  it  out  in  advance.  But  the  trouble 
with  many  a  chap  lies  in  his  failure  to  get  a 
surveyor.  Once  I  had  a  neighbor  who  built 
a  new  house.  He  cut  out  the  expense  of  a  sur- 
vey and  stepped  off  the  lot  —  so  many  steps 
from  the  corner.  When  the  house  was  fin- 
ished he  discovered  it  to  be  a  foot  over  his  line. 
The  man  who  owned  that  foot  of  soil  held  him 
up  for  five  times  its  actual  value.  The  whole 
thing  cost  him  ten  times  what  a  survey  would 
have  cost.  That 's  how  it  is  in  business.  Men 
try  to  step  off  their  careers,  but  they  can't  do 
it.  Business  must  be  measured  accurately, 
like  land." 

"  As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  do  measure 
it,"  agreed  Dowe.  "  The  first  loan  applica- 
tion that  came  to  me  was  that  of  a  small  hat 
manufacturer.  He  wanted  to  borrow  four 
thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  discount- 
ing his  bills ;  this,  of  course,  was  a  proper  pur- 
pose. Where  the  capital  needed  to  run  a  busi- 

45 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ness  varies  greatly,  bank  loans  are  vitally  nec- 
essary. The  banks  are  in  business  for  the 
purpose  of  loaning;  but  they  must  n't  get  the 
worst  of  it. 

"  The  hat  manufacturer  gave  his  net  worth 
as  seventeen  thousand  dollars.  Here  on  the 
face  of  it  was  a  good  loan.  He  had  a  business 
that  was  prospering,  with  the  outlook  excel- 
lent. But  when  I  asked  him  where  he  got  his 
original  capital  I  saw  at  once  that  something 
was  wrong.  He  evaded  me  for  a  few  minutes 
and  then  owned  up  that  he  had  borrowed  most 
of  it  from  relatives  and  friends,  without  secur- 
ity. These  men  had  confidence  in  him,  he 
said,  and  he  meant  to  pay  them  off  as  fast  as 
he  could,  with  ten  per  cent  interest.  The  rea- 
son he  had  n't  put  these  loans  in  his  liabilities 
was  because  they  were  n't  matters  of  business, 
but  of  personal  friendship.  The  money  was 
as  good  as  his  own. 

"  But  from  the  banker's  viewpoint  —  the 
viewpoint  of  the  cold-blooded  truth  —  this 
manufacturer's  net  worth  shrank  suddenly 
from  seventeen  thousand  dollars  to  four  thou- 
sand. Now  I  did  not  question  the  man's  in- 
tention to  pay  off  his  friends,  but  I  refused 

46 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

the    loan    because    his    financial    vision    was 
distorted." 

"  There  are  plenty  of  men  in  business  - 
and  out  of  it  —  who  persuade  themselves  that 
their  net  worth  has  four  or  five  naughts 
hitched  to  it,"  said  Barnes;  "the  trouble  is 
that  they  make  a  mistake  in  their  decimal 
points.  When  a  banker  gets  after  those  naughts 
the  decimal  points  move  over  to  the  left." 

"  I  began  right  away  to  eliminate  from  our 
loans  the  fairy-tale  atmosphere."  Dowe 
smiled  rather  broadly  as  he  said  this. 
"  Grimm  and  Andersen  are  all  right  for  the 
children,  but  the  man  in  business  will  do  bet- 
ter to  work  out  problems  in  mathematics;  he 
should  always  look  in  the  back  of  his  arith- 
metic to  make  sure  his  answer  is  right  before 
he  undertakes  a  new  enterprise,  branches  out, 
or  goes  to  the  bank  to  borrow. 

"  It  was  n't  long  before  our  patrons  began 
to  see  that  I  was  a  proposition  to  be  reckoned 
with;  some  of  our  borrowers  called  me  the 
most  brutal  banker  in  town.  But  I  noticed  a 
distinct  improvement  in  the  financial  morals 
of  some  of  them.  The  most  reckless  of  our 
patrons  had  been  adding  two  and  two  and  set- 

47 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ting  down  eight  for  the  answer.  Now  they 
began  to  come  down  to  seven,  six,  and  five. 
And  there  was  n't  an  instance  where  they 
did  n't  benefit  in  their  own  business. 

"  Yet  I  know  men  who  never  can  make  two 
and  two  foot  up  more  than  three.  The  in- 
flated optimist  is  scarcely  more  common  in 
business  than  the  hollow-voiced  pessimist 
whose  gas  bag  has  collapsed.  I  have  more 
sympathy  for  the  man  who  underrates  his 
ability  or  net  worth  than  I  have  for  the  oppo- 
site type.  It  is  more  difficult  to  help  him  see 
the  exact  truth. 

"  I  recall  a  wholesale  drygoods  merchant  of 
this  unfortunate  class.  He  came  to  me  with 
a  modest  and  dubious  request  for  a  loan  of  two 
thousand  dollars.  I  looked  up  his  records  in 
the  bank  and  found  that  in  past  years  his  credit 
line  had  run  between  twenty  and  forty  thou- 
sand dollars.  He  had  paid  promptly  and 
cleaned  up  at  intervals,  as  every  borrower 
should,  while  his  average  deposit  balances  had 
been  excellent.  But  more  recently  his  loans 
had  been  small,  and  not  always  taken  up  when 
due. 

"At  the  same  time  my  investigation  of  his 
48 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

assets  and  liabilities  convinced  me  that  he  was 
still  financially  sound  and  his  net  worth  quite 
substantial. 

"  After  considerable  thought,  and  consulta- 
tion with  the  president,  I  refused  the  loan  on 
the  ground  that  the  merchant  had  lost  confi- 
dence in  himself  and  was  letting  his  business 
slide  down  hill.  Instead  of  borrowing  two 
thousand  dollars,  he  needed  to  borrow  ten 
thousand. 

"  Then  the  wholesaler  gave  himself  up  to 
despair  and  tried  to  sell  out.  However,  he 
received  no  offers  for  his  good-will,  and  only 
a  low  valuation  on  his  stock  and  fixtures.  To 
one  in  his  frame  of  mind  there  seemed  no  al- 
ternative but  to  liquidate  before  he  was  forced 
to  assign. 

"  I  was  n't  so  cold-blooded  as  most  people 
thought  me.  That  man's  troubles  worried  me 
a  great  deal  because  I  knew  that  his  business 
was  all  right  if  only  he  'd  get  some  impetus 
back  of  it.  So  one  day  I  called  him  over  to 
the  bank.  He  was  twice  my  age  and  I  felt 
diffident  about  giving  advice  to  a  man  who 
had  spent  a  lifetime  in  business,  but  I  really 
wanted  to  help  him. 

49 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  *  I  know  a  way,'  I  said,  *  whereby  you  can 
retire  gracefully  from  business  at  a  profit,  in- 
stead of  sacrificing  everything  as  you  propose. 
The  good-will  of  your  business  is  really  worth 
money,  but  you  can't  get  anything  for  it  as 
long  as  you  admit  that  the  undertaking  has 
floored  you.  Your  case  is  something  like  that 
of  an  old  woman  I  once  knew  who  owned  a 
cow  and  a  bulldog.  She  put  up  a  sign  in  her 
yard:  "Milk  for  sale."  Under  it  she  put  an- 
other sign:  "Beware  of  the  bulldog."  The 
milk,  you  see,  was  worth  money,  but  nobody 
wanted  it. 

"  l  Now  I  know  two  young  men,'  I  went  on, 
*  who  want  to  go  into  business  and  are  compe- 
tent, I  believe,  to  take  your  establishment  and 
make  a  success  of  it.  They  have  n't  any  capital 
to  speak  of,  but  I  propose  that  they  go  in  there 
and  take  absolute  control.  Let  us  say  that  the 
present  good-will  is  worth  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. You  can  let  these  two  young  men  pay 
you  off  as  fast  as  they  can,  out  of  the  profits; 
you  can  really  retire  right  away.  This  bank 
will  see  them  through  on  any  legitimate  loans 
they  may  need.' 

'  This  was  done,  and  inside  of  five  years  the 
50 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

young  merchants  owned  a  thriving  business 
which  has  since  grown  to  large  proportions. 
You  see  how  the  personal  element  in  a  business 
may  give  it  borrowing  capacity. 

"  I  refer  to  this  instance  especially  because 
I  'd  like  to  lay  stress  on  a  truth  that  many  men 
in  business  do  not  comprehend.  The  net 
worth  of  a  man  does  not  of  itself  establish  his 
credit.  The  power  behind  that  net  worth  is 
more  important." 

"  A  locomotive  may  be  heavy  enough  to 
draw  a  train,"  said  Barnes,  "  but  if  the  steam 
goes  down  the  train  will  be  stalled." 

"  Do  you  know  that  some  men  can  borrow 
money  at  the  bank  without  any  capital  what- 
ever back  of  them?"  Dowe  demanded.  "I 
have  loaned  money  to  many  such  men  —  cash 
right  over  the  counter  on  their  unsecured 
promissory  notes.  Risky?  No,  not  half  so 
risky  as  loaning  to  men  with  a  lot  of  capital 
tied  up  where  they  can't  realize  on  it  inside 
of  a  year  or  two.  A  factory  plant  or  a  store 
building  or  a  lot  of  old  merchandise  is  not  the 
security  a  banker  wants.  For  such  loans  see 
the  real  estate  man,  or  your  friends. 

"  The  first  thing  a  banker  considers  is  not 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

the  security  at  all;  it's  the  borrower's  integ- 
rity and  the  way  he  looks  at  fundamental 
truths.  Is  he  visionary?  Does  a  dollar  look 
like  a  dollar  to  him,  or  like  two  dollars,  or 
six?  Is  the  building  he  bought  ten  years  ago 
still  worth  twelve  thousand  dollars,  or  has  he 
taken  off  two  per  cent  a  year  for  depreciation? 
Is  he  riding  some  hobby  to  death  —  like  golf 
or  automobiles  or  fishing?  Does  he  know  all 
the  elements  in  his  business  and  do  his  books 
tell  him  facts?  Is  his  breath  free  from  high- 
balls? Can  he  make  steam  properly? 

"  If  the  answers  are  satisfactory,  then  the 
banker  looks  over  the  more  tangible  assets,  but 
he  wants  them  liquid ;  that  is,  he  wants  them 
quickly  convertible  into  cash. 

"  Well,  I  '11  just  mention  one  or  two  other 
instances  of  a  kind  that  came  to  me  often. 
I  Ve  frequently  thought  that  many  a  business 
would  be  run  on  a  different  basis  if  those  in 
charge  could  sit  for  a  week  in  the  inner  pre- 
cincts of  a  bank. 

"  A  large  manufacturing  concern  came  to 
us  with  a  request  for  a  rather  extensive  credit 
line.  It  complained  that  the  bank  with  which 
it  had  done  business  was  not  treating  it  fairly, 

52 


STORY    OF    THE    PINK    SOAP 

and  it  offered  us  its  account  if  we  would  make 
the  loans  it  needed. 

"  A  regular  form  of  statement  was  sub- 
mitted to  me  by  this  company,  but  I  did  n't 
like  the  looks  of  the  figures.  You  know  there 
are  earmarks  about  these  statements  that  stick 
out  more  or  less  plainly.  One  thing  I  did  n't 
just  understand  was  the  equipment  account; 
so  I  undertook  a  glimpse  of  the  books. 

"  Without  going  into  the  matter  techni- 
cally, I  '11  simply  say  that  a  certain  lot  of 
machines,  originally  costing  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars, was  valued  the  second  year  at  nine  thou- 
sand, the  third  year  at  eight  thousand,  and  so 
on.  This  was  on  the  theory  that  in  ten  years 
the  machines  would  be  worthless.  But  that 
did  n't  work  out.  The  lot  of  machines  in 
question  was  scrapped  at  the  end  of  the  fourth 
year,  having  been  superseded  by  a  more  mod- 
ern invention.  Its  value,  however,  as  shown  in 
the  last  inventory,  was  seven  thousand  dollars. 

"  Of  course  no  business  man  likes  to  see 
seven  thousand  dollars  thrown  out  on  the  scrap 
pile.  It 's  more  agreeable  to  keep  this  neat 
little  sum  in  the  inventory,  especially  when 
there  is  money  due  the  banks  and  the  other 

53 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

creditors,  and  stockholders  to  be  appeased. 
So  in  this  case  it  was  decided  to  let  the  seven- 
thousand-dollar  gas  bag  stand  for  a  while 
without  puncturing;  later  on,  some  conven- 
ient way  would  be  found  to  take  it  out  of  the 
inventory. 

"  This  concern  was  half  gas,  and  my  bank 
refused  its  account.  Afterward  it  dragged  its 
weary  way  through  a  receivership.  A  lot  of 
its  stockholders  had  been  taking  the  figures 
without  an  introduction. 

"  This  sort  of  thing  is  n't  confined  to  firms 
and  corporations.  I  heard  of  a  man  who 
bought  a  forty-dollar  suit  and  wore  it  almost 
every  day  for  six  months.  Then  there  was  a 
fire  in  his  apartment  and  the  suit  was  ruined. 
He  sent  a  bill  to  the  insurance  company  for 
forty  dollars.  Yes,  he  had  worn  the  suit  six 
months,  he  admitted,  but  it  would  cost  him 
forty  dollars  to  replace  it! 

"  Now  this  is  exactly  the  sort  of  logic  that 
ruins  men  in  business.  By  the  time  they  have 
built  up  a  structure  based  on  figures  of  this 
sort  they  find  themselves  hard-pressed  for 
cash;  then  they  go  to  the  bank,  exhibit  their 
assets,  and  apply  for  a  loan." 

54 


STORY    OF    THE     PINK    SOAP 

"  Did  you  ever  pour  boiling  water  on  a  kid 
glove?  "  asked  Barnes.  "  The  next  time  you 
have  an  old  glove  that  you  don't  want  any 
more,  put  it  in  a  pan  and  empty  the  teakettle 
on  it.  You  '11  laugh  yourself  sick  to  see  it 
shrink  to  the  size  of  a  baby's  hand.  But  you  '11 
not  laugh  when  the  banker  pours  hot  water 
on  your  assets  —  unless  they  've  been  shrunk 
before  he  gets  at  them.  Ah!  I  know  the 
bankers  very  well,  Dowe." 

"  Another  would-be  borrower  was  a  Broad- 
way hotel,"  said  Dowe,  when  the  laughter 
subsided.  "  It  had  been  losing  money,  but  de- 
luded itself  into  the  belief  that  its  business  was 
profitable.  One  way  to  fool  yourself  is  to  put 
a  high  altitude  mark  on  the  item  of  good-will. 
If  a  man  runs  behind  in  his  business  a  thou- 
sand dollars  the  first  year,  it  is  convenient  to 
calculate  his  good-will  at  two  thousand  dol- 
lars; then  he  tells  his  friends  he  has  done 
very  well,  thank  you  —  a  thousand  dollars 
to  the  good  and  all  expenses  paid.  That 's 
very  well  for  the  first  year,  but  he  needs  a  little 
more  capital.  Along  comes  a  chap  with  five 
thousand  dollars  in  cash  that  his  father  left 
him;  he  hears  about  the  fine  opportunity  and 

55 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

hastens  to  get  a  grip  on  it  before  somebody 
snatches  it  away.  Neither  of  these  men  stands 
much  chance  of  success.  The  first  is  inflating 
his  business  with  disaster,  while  the  second 
has  n't  learned  how  to  subtract. 

"  This  hotel  was  in  the  same  boat.  It  had 
carried  its  good-will  at  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  but  nobody  would  buy  it  at  any  price. 
So  the  building  was  razed  to  make  way  for  a 
skyscraper. 

"  Without  hesitation,  I  say  that  my  own  suc- 
cess has  come  from  making  a  specialty  of  the 
financial  laws  that  underlie  the  operations  of 
mankind  in  general.  I  have  helped  thousands 
of  men  to  success  simply  by  forcing  them  to 
face  the  truth  in  whatever  they  undertook.  I 
have  been  a  ruthless  believer  in  realism,  down 
to  the  minutest  fraction.  When  a  man  faces 
facts  fairly  and  squarely  he  will  take  every 
step  with  a  degree  of  certainty  not  possible 
otherwise.  Just  for  example:  he  will  go  on 
making  laundry  soap  until  the  pink  medicated 
soap  is  able  to  walk  by  itself." 


CHAPTER  III 

MEN  WHO  DO  NOTHING 

IT  was  the  following  afternoon  before  we 
seven  men  got  together  again,  and  by  that 
time  the  Limited  was  winding  its  way 
among  the  Medicine  Mountains  of  Wyoming. 
It  seemed,  indeed,  as  if  we  were  getting  into 
the  heart  of  the  mighty  West.    I  always  asso- 
ciate the  West  with  mountains  and  loneliness, 
and  certainly  it  was  wild  and  desolate  enough 
here  in  Wyoming. 

I  had  been  sitting  by  myself  in  the  luxurious 
smoker,  nursing  a  grouch  for  an  hour  or  more, 
and  I  confess  that  I  had  n't  been  observing  the 
scenery.  Two  chaps  had  rubbed  me  the 
wrong  way  during  breakfast,  and  I  was  having 
it  out  with  them  there  in  the  smoker  —  having 
it  out  in  a  one-sided  imaginary  battle.  Some- 
times, when  you  're  alone,  you  have  a  regular 
rough-and-tumble  scrimmage  with  some  fel- 

57 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

low  you  don't  like,  and  in  these  mental  games 
of  solitaire  you  always  get  the  best  of  your 
enemy.  So,  in  this  case,  I  had  put  my  adver- 
saries utterly  to  confusion. 

Now  these  two  chaps,  in  reality,  were  not 
aboard  the  Limited  at  all,  but  back  East  some- 
where. I  had  never  seen  them,  and  up  to  that 
morning  at  breakfast  they  had  been  of  no  con- 
sequence to  me  one  way  or  another.  It  was 
nothing  more  than  Dorothy  Dowe's  reference 
to  them  that  aroused  my  resentment  —  call  it 
jealousy  if  you  choose. 

Through  chance,  I  had  found  myself  occu- 
pying the  fourth  chair  at  the  table  with  Banker 
Dowe's  family.  The  banker  sat  opposite  me, 
and  Mrs.  Dowe  —  a  handsome  and  stately 
lady  —  was  beside  him.  Therefore  Miss 
Dorothy  was  my  own  nearest  neighbor,  and 
acknowledged  the  introduction  in  an  agree- 
able way,  touched  with  reserve.  I  shall  not 
repeat  what  was  said  during  breakfast,  but 
somehow  it  came  about  that  Hooten  Van 
Dyke  was  mentioned,  and  a  man  named  Rit- 
tenhouse.  Miss  Dowe  spoke  especially  of 
Van  Dyke's  splendid  education,  and  I  fancied 
afterward  that  she  looked  across  at  her  father 

58 


MEN    WHO    DO    NOTHING 

with  a  peculiar  smile.  I  wondered  if  Van 
Dyke  had  any  claim  on  the  girl. 

Like  most  New  York  men,  I  had  some 
slight  knowledge  of  both  Van  Dyke  and  Rit- 
tenhouse,  through  the  newspapers.  They  were 
young  society  men  of  great  wealth  —  scions 
of  families  whose  names  were  familiar  to  the 
whole  nation.  Nor  did  the  nation  know  any- 
thing against  them,  so  far  as  I  am  aware. 
They  were  university  men,  cultured,  no 
doubt  handsome,  and  perhaps  talented.  It 
was  natural  enough  that  Dorothy  Dowe,  who 
knew  both  personally,  should  admire  them. 
And  after  all  it  was  not  wholly  strange  that  I 
—  who  had  risen  to  no  small  success  through 
my  own  efforts  alone  —  should  feel  vexation. 
I  held  strong  opinions,  and  hold  them  to-day, 
concerning  men  who  do  nothing.  It  is  not 
riches  I  abhor,  but  idleness.  I  have  little 
respect  for  men  who  possess  both  money  and 
education,  yet  dawdle  away  their  time  on  lux- 
uries when  there  are  battles  to  be  fought  for 
humanity  and  things  to  be  done  that  are 
worth  the  doing. 

The  thing  that  rankled  most  with  me,  I 
believe,  was  the  remark  about  Van  Dyke's 

59 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

education.  I  'd  never  been  to  college  myself, 
so  if  you  choose  to  believe  me  envious  I  shall 
not  dispute  you.  I  am,  indeed,  envious  of 
men  who  have  had  these  great  advantages. 
But  let  me  tell  you  just  a  word  about  myself. 
I  did  n't  stay  away  from  college  because  I 
wanted  to,  but  because  my  father  died  and 
left  me  at  the  head  of  a  brood  of  youngsters. 
There  we  were,  six  of  us,  adrift  in  the  heart- 
less city  of  New  York,  without  a  dollar  ex- 
cept the  meager  wages  I  earned  as  a  stock  boy 
in  the  establishment  of  Munn  &  Moorehouse 
—  that  was  the  name  of  the  firm  then.  I 
had  n't  even  dreamed  of  becoming  a  partner. 
The  six  of  us  were  fatherless  and  motherless, 
so  I  had  to  play  father;  my  eldest  sister,  who 
was  fifteen  when  we  were  thus  cast  adrift 
over  near  Gramercy  Park,  played  mother. 
And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  this,  I  got  something 
of  an  education  —  and  more  than  that,  a  for- 
tune. My  education  is  the  sort  that  men  get 
when  they  hunger  for  knowledge.  It  is  the 
kind  that  many  a  boy  has  found  at  the  old 
Astor  Library,  or  in  the  newspapers,  or  on  the 
streets  —  everywhere,  in  fact,  where  boys  go. 
It  is  a  sad  mistake  for  a  youth  to  imagine  that 

60 


MEN    WHO    DO    NOTHING 

education  may  be  had  only  by  purchasing  it 
at  Harvard,  Yale,  or  Columbia,  or  some  such 
institution.  I  often  go  even  now  to  the  won- 
derful new  Public  Library  in  Manhattan, 
and  the  possibilities  within  it  fill  me  with  awe. 
Here,  free  for  the  asking,  is  any  sort  of  edu- 
cation a  man  could  possibly  covet  —  from  the 
technical  professions  to  classics! 

So  I  was  educated  after  a  fashion,  though 
my  learning  was  not  just  the  sort  possessed 
by  Van  Dyke,  who  acquired  his  culture  amid 
luxury  and  sent  all  his  bills  to  his  father. 
Never  a  dollar  had  he  earned,  though  he  was 
twenty-seven  years  old ;  and  so,  when  I  heard 
Dorothy  Dowe  praising  him,  I  felt  anger 
deep  down  within  me  —  not  anger  toward 
Dorothy,  but  toward  this  man  whose  type 
always  irritated  me.  I  confess  that  it  ruffled 
me  now  more  than  usual.  The  girl's  bewitch- 
ing beauty  had  almost  dazed  me.  She  had 
seemed  a  vision  the  night  previous,  when  I 
caught  just  a  glimpse  of  her  through  the  haze 
of  tobacco  smoke,  but  in  broad  day  she  was 
amazingly  human.  I  'd  seen  millions  of 
women,  but  never  one  like  Dorothy  Dowe. 
I  'd  never  seen  brown  eyes  so  lustrous;  or  a 

61 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

complexion  that  had  so  delicate  a  tinge  of 
pink  beneath  its  white  texture;  or  features  — 
But  I  don't  mean  to  describe  her.  I  am  for- 
getting myself.  I  have  no  intention  of  mak- 
ing this  narrative  a  personal  one,  though  I 
may  be  unable  to  resist  speaking  at  times  of 
Miss  Dowe.  I  merely  started  out  to  tell  you 
a  little  about  Van  Dyke,  because  he  repre- 
sented a  class  that  offers  no  inspiration  to  boys 
and  men  who  are  righting  the  battle  for 
success. 

I  repeat  that  I  have  no  grudge  against  boys 
who  are  born  rich,  or  whose  fathers  are  able 
to  send  them  to  college  and  fit  them  for  the 
later  duties  of  life.  Such  boys,  if  they  have 
the  right  mental  stamina,  are  fortunate,  in- 
deed. So,  too,  is  a  boy  who  is  able  to  step 
into  a  going  business  established  by  his  father 
before  him.  How  often  have  I  envied  such 
a  youth!  But  I  hold  that  any  man  who  does 
nothing  is  a  leech  on  the  nation.  He  takes 
everything  from  it  and  gives  nothing  back. 
He  draws  from  his  university  the  knowledge 
and  culture  that  have  been  put  there  by  men 
who  have  worked,  but  he  returns  to  the  world 
no  learning.  He  takes  from  business  the 

62 


MEN    WHO    DO    NOTHING 

money  produced  by  the  brains  and  toil  of  mul- 
titudes, but  he  produces  only  his  own  leisure. 
He  mulcts  the  skill  of  the  scientist  and  sur- 
geon, but  he  contributes  nothing  whatever  to 
the  skill  that  alleviates  the  sufferings  of 
others. 

Success,  I  say,  does  not  lie  in  the  mere  pos- 
session of  money.  I  'd  like  to  make  my  posi- 
tion clear  on  that  point,  for  fear  that  in  these 
narratives  I  may  be  accused  of  worshiping 
gold.  If  money  and  power  cannot  be  ob- 
tained without  giving  back  to  the  people  more 
than  their  equivalent,  then  I  say  let  men  re- 
main poor  and  obscure.  In  building  a  busi- 
ness men  should  also  build  for  themselves 
names  that  stand  among  those  of  the  world's 
benefactors. 

It  was  this  that  put  me  into  my  grouch  and 
kept  me  there  in  the  smoking  car  while  the 
others  of  our  group  were  playing  bridge  in 
one  of  the  sleepers.  Not  that  I  had  any  legit- 
imate reason  to  care,  but  somehow  the  fact 
seemed  to  strike  a  false  note.  Dorothy  be- 
longed to  Banker  Dowe,  and  Dowe  belonged 
to  our  odd  circle  of  seven  —  seven  men  who 
had  fought  and  conquered,  but  were  fighting 

63 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

still.  Van  Dyke  and  Rittenhouse  were  in- 
truders; they  belonged  to  a  different  species. 
To  hear  Dorothy  praise  them  -  Well,  I  was 
in  such  an  unpleasant  frame  of  mind  that  I 
did  not  see  Dowe  until  he  put  a  hand  on  my 
shoulder  and  asked  what  ailed  me.  The 
others,  he  said,  were  coming  to  the  smoker 
in  a  minute,  and  Greenleaf  was  to  tell  his 
success-tale. 

So  in  a  very  short  time  I  had  quite  for- 
gotten these  two  chaps  back  in  the  East,  for 
no  creation  of  fiction  ever  got  hold  of  me  as 
did  the  true  inner  narrative  of  Greenleaf's 
career  —  this  master  salesman  and  student  of 
men. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ON  THE  MAIN  TRACK 

"  T  AST  night,"  said  Greenleaf,  as  he  lit 
_j  his  cigar,  "  I  believe  I  mentioned  an 
old  acquaintance  named  Riggs,  who 
traveled  out  of  Chicago  for  a  drygoods  house. 
He  had  more  side  lines  than  any  salesman  I 
ever  knew,  and  I  believe  that  he  influenced 
my  life,  in  a  way,  more  than  any  other  man. 
It  was  through  his  poor  example  that  I  first 
began  to  realize  the  value  of  time  and  concen- 
tration. Riggs,  remember,  was  a  man  of  many 
side  lines,  but  I  learned  to  hew  closely  to  the 
big  thing  I  was  really  after. 

"  It  was  down  in  Chillicothe,  state  of  Mis- 
souri, that  I  first  met  Riggs.  I  had  sold  all 
my  customers  in  the  place,  and,  as  usual,  was 
warming  a  hotel  chair  while  I  waited  for  a 
train  out  of  town.  I  had  half  a  day  to  waste, 
as  happened  frequently.  Riggs  had  sold  all 
of  his  customers,  too,  but  Riggs  never  loafed. 

65 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

" '  See  here,  Greenleaf,'  said  he,  shortly 
after  I  'd  been  introduced  to  him,  '  why  don't 
you  get  hold  of  some  side  lines  and  keep  busy? 
If  you  really  want  to  work  I  can  put  you  next 
to  three  or  four  games  that  will  fill  out  all 
your  spare  time.  I  know  a  trunk  concern  that 
wants  a  lot  of  specialty  salesmen  on  the  side  to 
push  some  new  goods;  and  up  in  Chicago 
there  's  a  house  that  wants  salesmen  to  call  on 
undertakers  with  the  best  side  line  on  earth  — 
a  regular  jimcrack!  You  simply  could  n't  fail 
to  sell  'em.  Of  course  I  can't  let  you  in  on  my 
own  snaps ;  but  I  '11  do  all  I  can  for  you.' 

"  Now  somehow  this  set  me  thinking. 
1  Thanks,'  said  I,  l  but  I  'm  not  sure  that  I 
care  to  take  up  side  lines.  I  '11  consider  the 
proposition  and  let  you  know.' 

"  As  I  look  back  on  that  day,  I  can  see  how- 
it  was  the  crisis  in  my  selling  career.  I  might 
have  taken  the  wrong  path ;  but  somehow  the 
logic  of  the  situation  got  hold  of  me,  just  as 
the  grip  of  life  gets  hold  of  some  poor  fellow 
who  's  ill  with  a  fever. 

"  The  next  time  I  saw  Riggs  I  said  to  him : 
1  Never  mind  about  sending  in  my  name  to  the 
wholesale  undertaker  or  the  trunk  man.  I  Ve 

66 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

made  up  my  mind  to  sell  groceries  exclu- 
sively. I  don't  care  about  the  side  lines. 
Don't  trouble  to  send  in  my  name.' 

"  t  But  you  're  wasting  half  your  time,'  he 
protested.  (  Now  I  know  a  house  that  wants 
a  few  first-class  salesmen  to  introduce  to  the 
trade  its  patent  double-acting  toothbrush. 
It 's  the  biggest  thing  yet!  I  '11  send  in  your 


name.' 


"  l  No,'  said  I ;  '  don't  trouble  yourself. 
I  Ve  got  a  double-acting  grocery  proposition 
of  my  own  and  I  have  n't  time  to  fool  with 
that  toothbrush  of  yours.  I  tell  you  I  'm 
selling  groceries  —  and  I  '11  not  have  any 
spare  time  hereafter.  The  fellows  with  spare 
time  are  always  the  ones  who  are  in  a  rut  and 
have  n't  the  brains  to  get  out.  See  here, 
Riggs ;  there  are  millions  of  people  all  round 
me  and  every  person  among  them  eats  gro- 
ceries! Don't  you  think  I  ought  to  find 
enough  to  do  with  the  main  product?  '  So  he 
went  his  way  and  I  went  mine." 

"  Side  lines  are  all  right  for  the  man  who 
has  n't  yet  found  his  big,  consuming  purpose," 
volunteered  Barnes.  "  They  will  do  to  fill  in 
with  during  an  emergency.  They  will  help 

67 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

a  boy  through  college,  or  a  girl  with  her 
music,  or  the  man  out  of  a  job;  but,  when 
you  're  on  the  track  of  something  really  worth 
while,  go  to  it  for  all  there  is  in  you.  Ham- 
mer away  continually  on  the  big  thing,  and  all 
your  efforts  will  be  cumulative  —  as  mine 
were;  but  dissipate  your  energies  on  side  lines 
and  you  will  find  that  each  effort  is  detached 
and  complete  by  itself,  without  successive  ad- 
ditions that  keep  on  piling  up  in  geometrical 
progression." 

"  Well,"  continued  Greenleaf,  "  Riggs  is 
down  and  out,  as  I  told  you  last  night,  while 
I  'm  selling  goods  stronger  than  ever.  I  'd 
be  down  and  out  to-day  too,  if  I  'd  fooled 
away  my  abilities  on  side  lines.  I  Ve  seen 
many  a  man  let  go  his  main  chance  to  get  hold 
of  a  shadow.  Of  course  you  want  to  be  sure 
that  you  Ve  really  got  your  grip  on  the  main 
chance,  but  when  you  're  sure  of  it,  hang  on! 

"  So,  when  I  made  up  my  mind  to  travel 
exclusively  on  the  main  selling-path  I  looked 
about  to  see  how  I  might  keep  busy  during 
that  heavy  percentage  of  time  I  had  been 
wasting.  At  the  next  town  I  struck,  it  oc- 
curred to  me  to  find  out  how  the  consuming 

68 


"  Madam,  I  have  nothing  whatever  to  sell  you  " 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

public  looked  on  our  brands  of  goods.  My 
house  carried  a  number  of  tradenrarked  lines 
and  was  not  doing  especially  well  with  any  of 
them;  our  canned  goods  and  coffees,  in  par- 
ticular, were  away  behind  what  they  ought 
to  have  been. 

"  I  had  two  hours  before  train  time,  and  I 
started  out  on  an  expedition  that  was  rather 
unorthodox  for  a  traveling  salesman  —  and 
yet  immensely  illuminating  in  the  end.  Turn- 
ing in  at  the  first  residence  I  found,  I  rang  the 
bell  and  said  to  the  housewife:  *  Madam,  I 
have  nothing  whatever  to  sell  you;  I  repre- 
sent X.,  Y.  &  Company,  the  wholesale  grocers 
up  in  Chicago,  and  I  should  like  very  much 
to  know  what  you  think  of  our  Double  B 
brands.  We  are  desirous,  you  see,  of  pleasing 
our  customers ;  and  we  hope  to  get  a  consen- 
sus of  opinion  that  will  aid  us  in  doing  so.' 

"  She  looked  at  me  somewhat  blankly.  *  I 
can't  recall  the  Double  B  brands,'  she  said; 
1  and  somehow  I  don't  just  seem  to  remember 
X.,  Y.  &  Company.' 

At  the  next  house  I  got  the  same  answer  — 
and  at  the  next.  I  talked  with  more  than 
twenty  housewives  that  day,  and  not  more 

69 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

than  three  of  them  had  any  definite  impres- 
sion of  our  goods  or  our  house.  When  I  left 
town,  however,  all  of  them  did  have  a  con- 
crete mental  picture  of  the  Double  B's.  Nor 
were  they  likely  to  forget  that  X.,  Y.  &  Com- 
pany were  located  in  Chicago  and  were  hand- 
ling the  very  best  brands  of  groceries  on  the 
market. 

"  During  that  entire  trip  I  put  in  every 
minute  of  my  spare  time  going  from  house  to 
house  on  this  exploring  expedition.  If  I  had 
only  a  quarter  of  an  hour  at  my  disposal  I 
spent  it  in  this  fashion.  I  kept  tally  of  my  dis- 
coveries, and  when  I  got  back  to  Chicago  I 
had  some  mighty  interesting  facts  to  give  our 
sales  manager.  More  than  ninety  per  cent  of 
the  people  with  whom  I  talked  never  had 
heard  of  our  Double  B  brands  or  of  our  firm 
and  its  general  products. 

"  c  There  's  something  vitally  wrong  here/ 
said  I.  '  Why,  we  are  literally  hedged  in  by 
markets  that  don't  even  know  about  us! 
There  are  swarms  of  people  everywhere,  but 
they  don't  buy  our  goods  simply  because 
we  Ve  made  no  impression  on  them.' 

" '  Well,'  said  the  sales  manager  as  he 
70 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

scanned  the  figures  I  had  given  him,  '  it 's  an 
unfortunate  situation;  but  how  can  we  better 
it?  You  know  we  're  up  to  the  limit  on  our 
advertising  appropriation.  It  takes  big 
money  to  advertise  broadly;  and  to  make  the 
impression  you  're  talking  about  we  'd  have 
to  keep  at  it  continually.  We  'd  use  up  our 
capital  in  a  year.' 

"  I  went  out  on  my  next  trip;  but  my  esti- 
mate of  my  sales  manager  had  dropped  a  few 
notches.  I  was  possessed  with  a  hazy  idea 
that  somehow  he  had  n't  risen  to  the  situation 
as  he  should  have  done.  He  was  a  thor- 
oughly orthodox  chap,  strong  on  systems  and 
mighty  powerful  on  the  auditing  of  expense 
accounts;  but  —  as  I  realized  afterward  — 
he  had  no  rightful  business  at  the  sales-man- 
ager's desk.  It  was  up  to  me  to  do  what  he 
should  have  done  —  find  a  way  to  sell  goods. 
However,  after  all,  that  is  what  any  salesman 
must  do  if  he  hopes  to  rise.  Comparatively 
few  sales  managers  really  know  how  to  sell; 
they  hold  down  their  jobs  simply  through 
force  of  circumstances." 

Barnes  jumped  to  his  feet,  afire  with  enthu- 
siasm. When  he  chooses,  Barnes  can  stir  the 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

very  depths  of  a  man's  energies.  He  is  not  a 
lackadaisical,  dreamy  executive,  but  one  who 
puts  all  the  steam  of  his  fiery  nature  into  his 
gestures,  voice,  and  attitude. 

"  You  never  spoke  a  truer  word,  Green- 
leaf!"  he  cried,  hitting  his  left  palm  with  his 
right  fist.  "  Half  the  men  in  the  country  hold 
their  jobs  through  force  of  circumstances,  and 
not  because  there  is  any  real  reason  why  they 
should !  I  knew  a  man  once  who  had  a  span 
of  horses  that  drove  splendidly  together  so 
long  as  the  off  horse  was  kept  on  the  right,  and 
the  nigh  horse  on  the  left.  But  one  day  a 
stranger  happened  to  hitch  them  up,  and  got 
the  nigh  horse  confused  with  the  off  one. 
Well,  sir,  both  of  'em  balked  and  kicked,  and 
finally  ran  away  and  smashed  up  things  gen- 
erally. You  see,  they  were  n't  trained  for 
their  jobs.  It's  force  of  circumstances,  gen- 
tlemen, that  governs  half  the  business  con- 
cerns in  the  country." 

"  I  Ve  known  hundreds  of  extraordinarily 
successful  men  on  the  road,"  supplemented 
Hopkins,  as  Barnes  sat  down  again,  "  and 
practically  without  exception  they  have  been 
fellows  who  did  n't  wait  to  be  stirred  up  by 

72 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

their  sales  managers;  more  often  they  re- 
versed the  process  and  did  the  stirring  up 
themselves.  They  originated  the  selling 
ideas." 

"  Aside  from  the  goods  themselves,"  Green- 
leaf  went  on,  "  selling  ideas  are  the  principal 
factors  in  salesmanship.  Of  course  I  don't 
mean  to  deprecate  all  those  little  elements  that 
are  sometimes  held  up  to  us  as  salemanship. 
Many  of  them  are  valuable  as  adjuncts;  but 
when  you  teach  a  salesman  how  to  approach  a 
prospect,  and  how  to  talk  to  him,  and  how  to 
close  him,  and  how  to  prevent  him  from 
changing  his  mind  before  you  can  get  your 
fountain  pen  back  in  your  pocket,  you  are 
merely  polishing  the  salesman  off.  Often  this 
polishing  process  is  done  before  the  embryo 
salesman  is  shaped  up  for  polishing.  It 's  like 
giving  a  medical  student  his  diploma  before  he 
has  done  any  dissecting." 

"  The  first  thing  to  do  with  an  embryo  sales- 
man," broke  in  Barnes,  once  more,  "  is  to 
pound  into  his  head  the  real  truth  about  sales- 
manship. Get  some  red  paint  and  a  brush  and 
write  on  a  board:  'Salesmanship  comprises 
ninety-nine  parts  of  ideas  and  one  part  of 

73 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

minor  ingredients.'  Then  lay  the  board  on 
the  salesman's  head  and  hammer  it  into 
his  brains  with  a  sledge.  After  that  proceed 
with  the  polish,  making  sure  that  it  does  n't 
drip." 

Now  this  may  have  been  putting  the  case 
rather  strong.  In  retail  selling  there  's  a  good 
deal  in  the  polish  and  not  so  many  opportuni- 
ties for  ideas.  But,  after  all,  Barnes'  defini- 
tion of  salesmanship  should  be  remembered 
by  all  young  men  who  may  chance  to  read  it. 
It  is  forcible,  even  if  stretched  a  bit.  Barnes, 
you  perceive,  has  a  habit  of  talking  in  ex- 
tremes. As  far  as  he  is  concerned,  there  is  no 
middle  course.  He  must  have  the  superlative. 

"  I  have  been  digressing,  perhaps,"  Green- 
leaf  continued.  "  For  a  month  or  two  I  kept 
at  my  self-constituted  task  of  sounding  the 
public's  estimate  of  our  Double  B  brands.  A 
thankless  task  it  was,  and  it  grew  mighty  mo- 
notonous, especially  as  the  aforesaid  estimate 
was  nine-tenths  vacuum.  Nevertheless  it  gave 
emphasis  to  my  vague  theory  that  something 
ought  to  be  done,  and  it  kept  me  busy.  It 
helped  a  little,  too,  in  bulk  sales;  but  unfor- 
tunately I  was  merely  one  person,  while  there 

.74 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

were  many  millions  of  people  to  be  told  about 
our  goods.  Had  I  been  able  to  get  round  to 
talk  in  person  with  all  those  millions,  our  sales 
would  have  jumped  faster  than  Jack  climbed 
the  beanstalk. 

"  After  a  while  a  plan  began  to  simmer  in 
my  head;  if  you  keep  on  thinking  about  a 
proposition  long  and  hard  enough  you  're  tol- 
erably sure  to  get  a  few  genuine  thinks  coming 
your  way  in  time.  The  trouble  with  our  sales 
manager  was  his  habit  of  thinking  in  grooves. 
A  cat  thinks  in  a  groove  when  it  comes  to  the 
door  every  morning  to  be  let  in;  a  chicken 
thinks  in  a  groove  when  it  observes  the  shades 
of  evening  descending  on  the  hen-house.  And 
so  a  salesman  thinks  in  a  groove  when  he 
merely  goes  into  a  customer's  store  and  says: 

"  '  Good  morning,  Mr.  Johnson!  Nice  day, 
is  n't  it?  How  many  Double  B's  can  I  sell  you 
to-day?  Thank  you.  Good-by.' 

"  It  was  n't  my  orthodox  business,  of  course, 
to  figure  out  any  plan  —  that  was  the  sales 
manager's  business;  but,  none  the  less,  I 
worked  out  a  game  of  personal  contact  on  a 
big  scale.  For  years  afterward  the  motto  of 
our  house  was  Personal  Contact. 

75 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  My  game,  in  other  words,  was  to  talk  to 
the  housewives  by  proxy,  since  I  could  not 
talk  to  a  large  percentage  of  them  in  person. 
I  had  observed  the  advantage  of  a  five  min- 
utes' conversation  on  the  subject  of  Double 
B's.  Such  personal-contact  publicity,  if  deftly 
accomplished,  had  the  effect  of  a  nail  driven 
halfway  into  a  board  and  placed  squarely  in 
the  path  of  the  housewife.  Whenever  she 
went  to  the  grocery  for  canned  goods  or  coffee 
thereafter  she  was  tolerably  sure  to  shy  round 
that  nail  in  her  memory  and  to  finish  by  pur- 
chasing Double  B's. 

"  So,  with  the  grudging  consent  of  the  sales 
manager,  I  began  to  organize  in  my  territory 
a  force  of  personal-contact  talkers.  We  tried 
the  scheme  cautiously  at  first,  for  I  was  n't 
quite  sure  of  it  myself.  It  was  vitally  neces- 
sary, too,  that  the  plan  should  be  self-support- 
ing. The  house  was  not  willing  to  spend  a 
dollar  on  the  campaign  until  I  had  demon- 
strated it  to  be  eighteen-carat  gold. 

"  I  began  in  a  small  Kansas  town.  I  knew 
a  clever  young  chap  there  who  was  anxious  to 
get  on  the  road.  He  was  employed  in  a  bank; 
but  I  said  to  him :  '  If  you  will  spend  two 

76  ' 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

hours  every  evening  talking  to  the  people 
about  X.,  Y.  &  Company's  goods,  we  will  pay 
you  twenty  per  cent  commission  on  the  net 
profit  we  make  from  the  increased  sales  in  the 
town.  Later  on,  if  you  show  yourself  capable, 
I  will  do  all  I  can  to  get  you  a  steady  job  on 
the  road  or  up  in  Chicago.  For  the  present, 
however,  you  will  have  nothing  to  sell.  Your 
job  will  be  to  talk.  I  want  you  to  go  to  every 
desirable  family  in  this  town  and  ask  opinions 
and  suggestions  on  X.,  Y.  &  Company's  brands. 
This  will  give  you  the  excuse  for  calling  and 
open  the  way  for  a  nice  little  talk,  in  the  course 
of  which  you  will  disseminate  a  lot  of  specific 
and  interesting  information  that  I  will  fur- 
nish you.' 

"  In  all  my  other  towns  I  worked  along  the 
same  lines.  In  each  of  the  larger  places  I 
divided  the  work  into  districts  and  had  several 
personal-contact  talkers.  When  a  town  had 
been  completely  talked  to  once,  some  excuse 
was  invented  for  going  over  it  again  —  some 
new  product  or  package  or  a  second  set  of  ques- 
tions. In  many  towns  we  doubled  our  sales 
without  the  outlay  of  a  dollar  aside  from  the 
commissions  we  paid  those  local  chaps  for 

77 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

talking.  I  was  always  very  careful  in  my  se- 
lection of  men;  and  afterward,  when  I  held 
executive  positions,  I  gave  employment  to 
many  of  them  and  found  most  of  them  very 
successful  salesmen. 

"  Eventually  we  broadened  this  scheme  and 
used  samples,  premiums,  and  various  other 
aids  to  the  mere  talking  plan,  and  the  time 
came  when  there  was  scarcely  a  family  in  all 
our  territory  that  was  not  familiar  with  our 
house  and  its  goods. 

"  I  don't  mean  to  dwell  on  this  or  any  other 
scheme;  it's  the  principle  of  the  thing  I'd 
like  to  impress  on  salesmen.  I  have  just  been 
describing  to  you  a  concrete  instance  of  real 
salesmanship.  So  many  fellows  mistake  the 
salesmanship  polish  for  the  salesmanship 
itself,  that  I  feel  like  getting  hold  of  a  mega- 
phone and  climbing  a  telegraph  pole  to  let 
them  know  the  difference." 

"  Real  salesmanship  is  often  out  of  sight," 
acquiesced  Barnes.  "  The  general  public 
does  n't  see  it.  It  lies  in  your  gray  matter, 
where  you  marshal  your  forces,  plan  your 
strategy  and  get  the  people  marching  in  an 
endless  procession  to  buy  your  stuff." 

78  ' 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

"  Yes,"  said  Greenleaf ;  "  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  polish  is  commonly  more  conspicu- 
ous. Don't  neglect  it  —  it  is  very  necessary 
sometimes.  A  salesman's  personal  atmos- 
phere, his  ability  to  make  a  neat,  well-rounded 
argument,  and  all  the  fine  little  points  that 
make  selling  an  intricate  game  of  the  wits  de- 
serve close  study.  You  can't  analyze  yourself 
too  thoroughly,  or  your  customers.  These 
things  of  themselves  may  give  you  a  lesser 
degree  of  success. 

"  The  polish,  however,  will  never  make 
you  successful  in  its  broad  significance,  though 
true  salesmanship  in  its  higher  forms  may  earn 
you  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  without  any 
polish  whatever.  I  have  seen  this  truth  dem- 
onstrated so  many  times  that  I  am  sure  of  it. 
Real  salesmanship  lies  in  the  ideas  that  sell 
goods. 

"  I  had  customers  in  those  early  days  to 
whom  I  could  n't  have  sold  at  all  without 
ideas.  Ideas  may  be  of  all  kinds  and  sizes.  I 
have  cited  one  of  my  big  ideas;  a  little  one 
often  has  just  as  much  relative  importance. 
I  remember  one  retail  grocer  in  Iowa  whom 
I  could  n't  touch  for  a  long  time  with  my 

79 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

Double  B  brands.  He  was  welded  to  other 
goods  as  tightly  as  a  rivet  in  an  iron  beam. 
Once  he  set  his  jaws  on  a  thing,  he  was  like  a 
bulldog  I  once  knew  that  got  another  dog  by 
the  ear  and  hung  on  for  ten  hours.  You 
could  n't  argue  with  that  dealer  any  more  than 
you  could  with  the  bulldog.  His  customers 
were  satisfied  with  the  goods  they  were  get- 
ting, he  said  —  and  that  ended  it. 

"  I  knew  a  lot  of  grocery  salesmen  who  had 
given  him  up,  but  I  made  up  my  mind  to  get 
him.  I  was  tired  of  going  into  his  store  only  to 
be  turned  down.  I  got  our  sales  manager  to 
consent  to  a  plan  requiring  a  special  advertis- 
ing appropriation  of  a  hundred  dollars.  Then 
I  had  a  lot  of  handbills  printed,  announcing 
that  all  the  enterprising  grocers  in  the  town 
would  be  in  a  position  on  a  certain  day  to  give 
away  an  aggregate  of  five  hundred  pounds  of 
Double  B  coffee  in  half-pound  packages. 
Every  family  in  town  would  be  entitled  to  one 
package  if  called  for  at  the  first-class  grocery 
stores.  After  I  had  hired  a  boy  to  distribute 
these  circulars  I  called  on  my  obstinate  friend. 
At  last  I  had  the  whiphand. 

"  '  It 's  up  to  you  to  get  into  the  bandwagon 
80 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

or  stay  out,  as  you  prefer,'  I  told  him.  l  You 
know  very  well  what  the  people  will  think  of 
your  store  if  you  turn  them  away  empty- 
handed  when  they  come  to  claim  their  pack- 
ages of  coffee.  It  makes  no  particular  differ- 
ence to  X.,  Y.  &  Company  —  though,  of 
course,  we  'd  like  to  see  you  get  your  share  of 
the  good-will  and  the  trade  that  are  bound  to 
come  from  this  proposition.  The  people  of 
your  town  are  going  to  use  our  goods  —  don't 
forget  it.  In  a  month  or  so,  probably,  we  '11 
repeat  this  dose  and  give  away  a  lot  of  Double 
B  canned  corn;  then  we'll  come  along  with 
Double  B  peas,  and  so  on.  None  but  the  first- 
class  grocers  will  be  in  on  the  thing  — 
depend  upon  that.  Now  you  still  have  time 
enough  to  get  in  line.  If  you  say  so  I  '11 
wire  the  house  to  rush  along  your  pro- 
portion of  the  free  coffee  by  express.  And, 
while  you  're  about  it,  perhaps  you  '11  want 
to  give  me  an  order.  You  're  bound  to  have 
a  lot  of  calls  for  Double  B  coffee,  you 
know.' 

"  He  saw  the  point,  and  after  that  I  sold  him 
goods  regularly;  in  fact  he  became  my  best 
customer  in  that  town.  Sometimes  a  bit  of 

81 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

selling    ingenuity    and    a    little    advertising 
money  will  achieve  remarkable  results. 

"  I  worked  out  a  host  of  these  selling  ideas 
during  my  waits  for  trains.  When  I  was  n't 
actually  selling  I  was  figuring  out  some  selling 
problem  or  analyzing  some  proposition  that 
had  baffled  me. 

"  I  remember  one  grocer  who  showed  an  ex- 
tremely scant  interest  in  my  goods;  he  would 
never  listen  to  me  for  more  than  thirty  sec- 
onds, and  the  few  goods  he  did  buy  he  tucked 
away  out  of  sight  and  sold  them  only  when 
specially  called  for.  Whenever  I  struck  his 
store  he  was  sure  to  be  everlastingly  busy  — 
and  he  brushed  me  aside  as  he  would  a  fly. 

"  I  pondered  this  problem  quite  a  while 
and  then  I  hit  on  a  plan.  The  next  time  I  got 
to  Chicago  I  had  a  photograph  taken  of  our 
coffee-tasting  table,  showing  the  taster  seated 
in  his  chair,  with  twelve  cups  of  coffee  on  the 
revolving  tabletop,  along  with  the  twelve 
trays  of  coffee  beans  that  corresponded. 

'l  When  I  made  my  unfriendly  dealer's 
town  again  I  tackled  him  on  the  spot  for  an 
order  of  coffee;  and  before  he  had  time  to 
side-step  I  put  the  photograph  before  him. 

82 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

"  *  See  here! '  I  said.  '  If  you  want  to  sell 
the  biggest  line  of  coffees  in  town  I  '11  show 
you  how  to  begin.  Just  fix  up  an  improvised 
coffee-tasting  table  in  your  show  window. 
Put  twelve  cups  of  coffee  there  and  twelve 
trays,  and  hire  some  youth  for  a  couple  of 
dollars  a  week  to  sit  there  and  show  the  pub- 
lic how  the  quality  of  the  X.  and  Y.  coffees  is 
safeguarded.  It 's  bound  to  be  the  most  pull- 
ing coffee  display  ever  seen  in  this  town.  Oh, 
of  course,  if  you  don't  care  to  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  I  '11  let  Johnson  Brothers, 
across  the  street,  have  it.  I  know  a  lot  of 
grocers  who  are  keen  for  these  business 
pullers.  I  '11  not  say  anything  more  to  you 
about  coffee;  but  how  about  Double  B 
canned  goods?  How  much ' 

"  l  Wait  a  minute! '  he  broke  in.  '  Lemme 
see  that  picture  again.  Now  how  would  a 
fellow  go  about  fixin'  up  such  a  table? ' 

"  So  the  game  worked  as  I  expected  it 
would.  He  bought  a  big  lot  of  our  coffees 
and  other  goods  after  that.  A  thousand  times 
I  Ve  had  success  with  little  schemes  of  that 
sort.  I  always  found  it  advantageous  to  spring 
interesting  side  talks  on  difficult  customers  — 

83 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

always  pertaining,  however,  to  my  line  of 
goods.  Just  as  I  featured  coffee-tasting  in 
the  foregoing  incident,  so  I  featured  tea  pick- 
ing and  drying,  sugar-refining,  canning  pro- 
cesses, and  so  on.  There  is  n't  one  grocer  out 
of  a  thousand  who  has  any  knowledge  of  this 
sort.  If  the  wholesale  salesman  is  wise  he  '11 
post  himself  thoroughly  on  manufacturing 
details  and  use  the  information  to  focus  the 
interest  of  the  retail  men.  It  '11  do  it  practi- 
cally every  time.  I  remember  a  crabbed  old 
grocer  I  won  over  with  prunes.  He  would  n't 
buy  my  prunes  until  I  shocked  him  into  it! 
I  explained  the  process  by  which  many 
brands  of  prunes  were  first  dipped  in  a  solu- 
tion of  lye  —  to  break  the  skins.  The  X.  and 
Y.  prunes  never  saw  any  lye.  My  description 
of  the  various  processes  held  him  spellbound 
and  he  became  a  good  friend  and  customer  of 
my  house." 

"  I  Ve  known  a  lot  of  salesmen  in  various 
lines  who  knew  no  more  about  their  goods 
than  their  customers  did,"  observed  Hopkins. 
"  I  recall  a  salesman  who  handled  photo- 
graphic goods;  he  hadn't  the  slightest  con- 
ception of  the  process  followed  in  making  dry 

84 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

plates.  Once  I  asked  a  hardware  salesman 
how  teakettles  were  made  —  he  merely  looked 
blank." 

"  Most  men  look  blank  when  they  're  asked 
things  they  ought  to  know,"  snapped  Barnes. 
"  It 's  the  everlasting  incompetence  that  keeps 
men  down.  It 's  the  downright  bungling,  in- 
excusable lack  of  ability  to  do  things  as  they 
ought  to  be  done.  The  rarest  thing  in  busi- 
ness, gentlemen,  is  the  man  who  knows!  The 
most  common  thing  is  the  man  who  does 
everything  wrong  because  he  does  n't  know 
any  better!  "  In  his  emphasis,  Barnes  got  to 
his  feet  once  more.  "  Hang  me!"  he  cried, 
"  what  a  lot  of  worthless  cusses  there  are  in 
the  world!  They  are  worthless,  not  because 
they  have  to  be,  but  because  they  have  n't  the 
grit  to  learn  to  do  things  worth  while!  " 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  I,  modestly,  for,  being 
the  youngest  of  the  group,  I  did  not  often  in- 
trude my  opinions  — "  pardon  me,  gentle- 
men, but  the  grit  to  do  things  is  a  quality  that 
is  not  born  in  men  to  the  extent  commonly 
supposed.  Every  man  has  it  more  or  less, 
true  enough,  but  to  be  of  any  great  service 
it  must  be  developed.  Now  in  the  store  of 

85 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

Munn,  Moorehouse  &  Gaylord  we  have  a 
developing  process,  and  I  '11  tell  you  about 
it  when  my  turn  comes.  It  has  accomplished 
extraordinary  things  for  our  firm.  Indeed, 
it  is  the  exception  to  find  men  who  are  not 
thoroughly  amenable  to  its  influence.  But  of 
course  "  —  and  here  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing of  Van  Dyke  —  "  there  are  some  worth- 
less cusses  in  the  world  who  lack  even  the 
semblance  of  an  ambition.  With  every  op- 
portunity offered  them,  they  go  through  life 
without  even  one  achievement  to  their  credit." 

"  Of  no  more  value  to  the  world  than  a  hop- 
toad!" ejaculated  Barnes. 

We  were  climbing  a  stiff  grade  just  then, 
and  our  locomotive  was  laboring  mightily. 
Frothingham  said  the  rails  were  very  icy,  and 
that  we  'd  have  a  hard  pull  to  get  up. 

"  Like  the  rails  of  many  a  business,"  de- 
clared Barnes.  "  Indeed,  the  rails  of  my  own 
business  became  coated  with  ice  more  than 
once,  and  I  can  tell  you  that  we  had  to  make 
steam  to  get  over  the  ridge !  I  Ve  known  con- 
cerns to  get  stalled  simply  because  they 
could  n't  make  steam  enough  in  icy  weather. 
But,  gentlemen,  we  are  interrupting  Green- 

86 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

leaf's  story.  You  were  speaking,  Mr.  Green- 
leaf,  about  a  salesman's  knowledge  of  his 
goods." 

"  Yes,"  said  Greenleaf,  "  and  I  believe  I 
can  say  that  one  vital  secret  of  my  success  lay 
in  the  knowledge  I  acquired  concerning 
everything  I  sold.  The  salesman  who  knows 
his  goods  from  the  raw  material  to  the  fin- 
ished product  is  like  the  school-teacher  who 
knows  his  arithmetic  from  addition  to  cube 
root.  You  can't  ring  in  the  wrong  answer  on 
him.  He  's  got  the  talking  points  right  on  the 
end  of  his  tongue.  Talking  points  are  genu- 
ine salesmanship,  because  —  if  they  're  really 
talking  points  —  they  make  the  customer 
eager  to  buy  your  goods.  Sometimes,  when 
the  talking  point  has  been  figured  out  care- 
fully enough  in  the  home  establishment  or 
back  in  the  factory,  the  public  actually  gets 
clamorous  to  buy.  Yet  I  Ve  known  salesmen 
to  go  along  indefinitely  without  knowing  that 
their  goods  had  any  talking  points.  I  knew 
one  chap  who  sold  toys  for  five  years  before 
he  learned  accidentally  that  extraordinary 
care  was  used  in  his  factory  to  keep  the  color- 
ing matter  free  from  poison. 

8? 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  Then  I  think  there  was  another  factor  that 
had  a  strong  influence  on  my  success  —  that 
factor  was  persistence.  The  three  chief  ele- 
ments of  salesmanship  I  believe  to  be  ideas, 
knowledge  of  goods  and  persistence.  I  never 
abandoned  a  prospect  or  let  up  on  a  customer 
who  was  n't  buying  up  to  his  full  legitimate 
possibilities. 

"  One  grocer,  in  Nebraska,  had  a  grudge 
against  my  house  over  some  mix-up  before  my 
time.  For  a  year  I  went  into  his  store  once  a 
month  without  getting  an  order.  He  was 
rough  and  insulting  at  first.  He  had  treated 
other  salesmen  the  same  way,  and  some  of 
them  had  cut  him  off  their  lists  absolutely  as 
hopeless.  For  three  or  four  months  I  tried 
every  scheme  I  could  invent  to  make  an 
impression  on  him.  Then  I  settled  down  to  a 
patient  game  in  which  I  became  his  customer. 

" t  Good  morning,  Mr.  Smith,'  I  would 
say.  l  How  about  some  Double  B's  to-day?  ' 

"'Don't  want  none!'  he  would  snap. 
1  Ain't  I  told  you  that  times  enough?  ' 

"  *  All  right,'  I  would  answer;  '  but  please 
put  me  up  a  dozen  oranges.  You  handle 
mighty  good  fruit,  Mr.  Smith.  How  much? 

88 


"  He  could  n't  keep  on  insulting  a  steady  cash  customer 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

Well,  now,  your  price  is  n't  bad,  either. 
Thank  you.  I  '11  drop  in  next  month.' 

"  I  was  morally  certain  he  could  n't  hold 
out  forever  against  a  game  of  that  sort;  and 
he  did  n't.  I  could  see  for  some  time  that 
he  was  growing  ashamed  of  himself.  He 
could  n't  keep  on  insulting  a  steady  cash  cus- 
tomer; and  finally  he  came  back  of  his  own 
accord  and  bought  of  our  house. 

"  I  think  that  fully  a  third  of  my  sales  dur- 
ing my  final  years  in  the  grocery  line  came 
from  customers  I  had  worked  up  by  persistent 
methods  of  one  sort  or  another.  Every  such 
effort  I  aimed  to  direct  against  a  weak  spot  in 
the  enemy's  intrenchments.  Sometimes  my 
games  were  slow;  but  in  the  end  I  usually 
tunneled  under  the  walls  or  got  over  with  a 
scaling  ladder,  or  watched  my  chance  to  get 
through  an  open  gate. 

"  I  was  made  sales  manager  of  X.,  Y.  & 
Company,  but  I  stayed  there  only  two  years. 
A  Pittsburgh  house  offered  me  five  thousand 
dollars  a  year  and  commissions  to  sell  lubri- 
cating oils.  As  sales  manager  I  had  been  get- 
ting four  thousand,  without  commissions. 

"  It  was  something  of  a  jump  from  gro- 
89 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ceries  to  oils;  but  I  have  always  held  that  the 
same  fundamental  principles  governed  all 
forms  of  selling.  And  I  reasoned  that  a  man 
who  could  make  a  success  of  staples  in  a 
crowded  market  ought  to  make  good  in 
anything. 

"  So  I  took  hold  of  oils.  Before  going  out 
on  the  road  I  put  on  jumper  and  overalls  and 
spent  two  months  at  the  works.  Then  I  de- 
voted another  month  to  the  office.  It  seemed 
singular  to  me  that  this  concern  should  volun- 
tarily send  to  Chicago  and  pick  out  a  grocery 
salesman  and  then  put  him  on  the  shelf  for 
three  months  at  more  than  four  hundred  dol- 
lars a  month,  while  a  lot  of  experienced  oil 
salesmen  in  the  country  were  looking  for  jobs ; 
but  the  fact  itself  proved  that  oil  salesman- 
ship was  not  so  greatly  different,  after  all. 
And  when  this  oil  manager  hired  me  he  did 
not  ask  about  my  brand  of  salesmanship 
polish;  he  did  not  ask  whether  I  approached 
a  prospect  on  tiptoe  or  flat-footed;  whether  I 
got  out  my  order  blank  at  the  close  of  the 
fourth  or  sixteenth  clause  in  my  argument; 
whether  I  had  an  eloquent  peroration  that 
summed  up  eleven  out  of  the  sixteen  clauses, 

90 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

but  left  five  clauses  to  be  held  in  reserve  for 
emergency.  He  simply  asked  me  if  I  thought 
I  could  adapt  a  lot  of  my  ideas  to  oil. 

"  I  was  sent  down  South.  I  found  that 
salesmen  from  other  oil  companies  had  made 
a  lot  of  trails;  but  I  did  n't  stay  on  those  trails 
any  more  than  I  could  help.  I  got  off  into 
virgin  country. 

"  I  found  one  seacoast  river,  for  instance, 
that  had  a  good  many  small  manufacturing 
plants  scattered  along  it  and  a  large  number 
of  motor  boats  plying  on  its  waters;  yet  few 
of  these  oil  consumers  had  any  direct  way  of 
getting  oil,  but  had  to  pay  exorbitant  freight 
charges  and  cartage  bills.  The  result  was  that 
the  quantity  of  oil  consumed  was  less  than 
half  what  the  machinery  really  required. 
This  fact  I  determined  by  carefully  compiled 
statistics. 

"  There  was  no  freight  service  on  this  river, 
for  only  at  occasional  periods  during  the  year 
was  it  navigable  for  anything  except  small 
boats,  many  of  which  belonged  to  fishermen. 
Therefore,  on  my  representations,  my  firm 
established  two  stations  on  the  river  at  which 
oil  could  be  procured  at  all  times  and  carried 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

away  in  the  small  craft  available.  These  sta- 
tions we  stocked  at  opportune  periods.  Then 
I  constituted  myself  a  sort  of  commissioner 
of  education  on  the  use  of  oil  —  I  showed 
those  consumers  how  they  might  conserve 
their  own  interests  by  doubling  their  oil 
consumption. 

"  We  never  had  sold  any  oil  on  that  river 
before;  in  fact  we  had  n't  supposed  the  trade 
down  there  was  worth  going  after.  We  were 
soon  selling  thousands  of  barrels  a  year, 
however. 

"  I  merely  cite  this  instance  as  an  example 
of  the  truth  I  Ve  been  trying  all  along  to  drive 
home  —  that  true  salesmanship  is  deeper  than 
its  outward  manifestations.  The  salesman- 
ship that  boosts  a  salesman  up  and  up,  and  still 
higher,  is  the  constant  forcing  of  sales  by  such 
methods  as  this.  It  is  the  keen,  shrewd  analy- 
sis of  situations  and  the  discovery  of  opportu- 
nities rather  than  a  rigmarole  of  superficial 
rules  and  balderdash.  Whether  you  sell  gro- 
ceries, oils,  books  or  cornplasters,  the  propo- 
sition is  pretty  much  the  same.  The  com- 
monplace salesman  follows  the  trails  marked 
out  for  him  by  other  commonplace  salesmen; 

92 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

there  may  be  markets  under  his  nose  that  he 
does  n't  dream  of  and  ways  of  reaching  those 
markets  that  no  school  of  salesmanship  ever 
taught.  Real  salesmanship  lies  in  finding 
those  markets  and  the  ways  to  reach  them, 
even  though  the  task  of  doing  so  should  rub 
off  every  bit  of  polish  that  has  been  lathered 
on  and  soaked  in  with  such  painstaking  effort" 

"  There  are  often  markets  under  our  noses 
that  we  don't  dream  of,"  remarked  Gale,  the 
real-estate  man,  who  had  been  very  quiet  all 
through  Greenleaf's  story.  "  It  was  the  find- 
ing of  these  markets,  and  ways  of  reaching 
them,  that  brought  me  my  success.  Yet  I 
never  realized  before  to-day  how  closely  real- 
estate  salesmanship  follows  the  general  lines 
Mr.  Greenleaf  has  laid  down  for  us." 

In  truth,  this  man  Gale  had  a  most  extraor- 
dinary history  to  tell  us  later  on.  He  is  a 
man  of  few  words  ordinarily,  and  one  would 
scarcely  suspect,  on  a  casual  acquaintance, 
that  he  had  worked  out  this  difficult  problem 
of  real-estate  success  on  such  a  shrewd,  far- 
seeing  basis.  In  fact,  Gale  actually-  But 
I  should  not  anticipate.  After  this  interrup- 
tion Greenleaf  resumed: 

93 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  In  another  part  of  the  South  I  was  instru- 
mental in  bringing  about  the  establishment  of 
a  steamboat  line  between  an  isolated  Gulf  sec- 
tion and  a  city  of  some  size,  so  that  manu- 
facturing interests  might  develop  —  and,  of 
course,  the  sale  of  oils  along  with  them. 

"  It  was  the  broadest  sort  of  salesmanship 
on  which  I  was  now  engaged,  and  the  train- 
ing in  this  direction  gave  me  a  new  viewpoint 
over  the  whole  problem  of  marketing  goods. 
I  learned  to  plan  far  ahead  —  to  analyze  the 
future  and  decide  just  where  to  get  our  wedges 
in,  even  though  we  were  n't  ready  to  use  the 
mallet  on  those  wedges.  I  was  now  far  busier 
than  my  old  acquaintance,  Riggs,  ever  was, 
with  all  his  side  lines.  There  was  no  waste 
time;  every  hour  not  devoted  directly  to  sell- 
ing oil  was  devoted  to  plans  for  selling  it. 

"  In  a  way  I  was  a  promoter  in  those  days 
as  well  as  a  salesman.  I  believe  the  art  of 
promoting  markets  is  a  feature  of  salesman- 
ship largely  overlooked.  The  keen,  wide- 
awake salesman  is  always  alert  for  a  l  wedge 
crack,'  as  a  shrewd  old  friend  of  mine  used  to 
call  it.  Even  when  I  was  a  grocery  salesman 
I  was  on  the  watch  for  such  chances.  For  ex- 

94 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

ample,  I  once  said  to  an  enterprising  grocery 
clerk: 

"  '  Jim,  there  's  a  great  opening  for  a  high- 
class  grocery  over  at  Burgville  —  fine  district, 
first-class  customers  and  no  grocery  within  a 
mile.  If  you  want  to  get  into  business  on  the 
ground  floor  that 's  your  chance.' 

"  Jim  had  some  money  and  was  able  to  raise 
a  little  more,  and  it  was  easy  to  induce  a  Burg- 
ville investor  to  put  up  a  building.  Jim  went 
into  business  and  built  up  a  fine  trade;  and 
you  may  be  sure  I  sold  him  the  bulk  of  his 
goods.  That 's  what  I  mean  by  a  *  wedge 
crack.'  It  was  a  place  to  crowd  in  a  selling 
wedge  and  hammer  it  home  very  quickly. 

"  However,  I  never  realized  the  opportu- 
nities in  this  direction,  or  the  way  a  big  and 
thoroughly  enterprising  concern  works,  until 
I  got  out  for  that  oil  company.  If  I  'd  had  the 
same  viewpoint  while  I  was  selling  groceries 
perhaps  I  'd  have  stayed  in  that  line.  I  can 
look  back  now  and  see  wonderful  possibilities 
that  I  only  half  worked.  I  was  n't  so  much 
to  blame  myself;  the  sales  manager  and  the 
members  of  the  X.  and  Y.  firm  were  n't  alert 
to  their  chances. 

95 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  These  oil  people  were  different.  They 
looked  ahead  into  future  years;  they  foresaw 
their  markets  and  bent  every  energy  toward 
developing  them.  As  I  went  about  among  the 
manufacturers  I  scattered  an  immense  quan- 
tity of  seed  that  propagated  and  grew  into 
business  for  my  house.  I  was  a  sort  of  colo- 
nist agent.  I  knew  where  all  the  opportuni- 
ties lay;  where  manufacturing  chances  were 
beckoning;  where  the  pitfalls  were  concealed. 
I  was  a  moving  spirit  in  the  establishment  of 
boards  of  trade  and  manufacturers'  organiza- 
tions; as  a  press  agent  for  oil  I  engineered  all 
sorts  of  schemes  to  draw  attention  from  the 
North.  I  was  a  frequent  speaker  at  business 
men's  dinners  and  meetings;  and  I  found  that 
the  art  of  public  speaking  —  without  any  at- 
tempt at  oratory  —  was  a  very  valuable  ad- 
junct to  salesmanship.  I  cannot  recommend 
it  too  strongly  to  every  salesman,  no  matter 
what  his  line.  A  clam  never  yet  drove  a  circus 
wagon. 

"  Through  these  methods  I  established  a 
very  large  acquaintance  and  made  a  prestige 
for  my  firm  that  was  permanent.  My  advice 
was  constantly  sought  —  and  commonly  taken. 

96 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

I  remained  with  the  oil  company  for  ten  years 
and  during  that  time  my  territory  developed 
wonderfully.  There  were  many  districts 
where  we  sold  large  quantities  of  goods 
monthly  that  had  been  absolute  voids  when 
I  took  hold.  Of  course  I  don't  claim  credit 
for  all  the  development,  but  I  do  say  that  I 
influenced  a  lot  of  it  and  that  I  always  had  a 
bunch  of  wedges  ready  —  and  a  variety  of 
beetles.  Sometimes  I  tapped  the  wedge 
lightly;  sometimes  I  hit  it  a  crack  with  a 
sledge-hammer. 

"  One  day  I  received  a  telegram  from  a 
large  machinery  house,  asking  me  to  come  to 
New  York  at  once  on  a  very  important  matter. 
I  was  about  to  leave  Atlanta  for  Texas,  but  I 
caught  a  train  the  other  way  instead.  In  New 
York  I  was  offered  a  salesman's  position  at 
nine  thousand  dollars  a  year.  I  was  receiving 
at  that  time  seven  thousand  from  the  oil  com- 
pany, and  I  could  have  stayed  at  nine  thou- 
sand; but  I  saw  a  bigger  opportunity  in  ma- 
chinery. Subsequent  events  proved,  too,  that 
my  choice  was  wise.  I  believe  that  men  as 
a  rule  are  too  timid  about  making  such 
changes." 

97 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  Many  a  man  wears  twenty-five-cent  neck- 
ties," said  Barnes,  "  when  he  might  afford 
two-dollar  silk  ones  if  he  had  the  nerve  to  quit 
a  '  sure  thing.'  The  men  who  get  high  sal- 
aries are  commonly  those  who  have  had  broad 
experience  and  held  jobs  with  different  con- 
cerns. Yet  I  would  n't  advise  any  man  to 
make  a  change  unless  he  has  confidence  in 
himself.  The  way  to  cultivate  confidence  is 
to  do  things  that  count.  Then  you  can  look 
your  employer  in  the  eye  and  let  him  under- 
stand you  're  not  bluffing  when  you  talk  about 
quitting.  I  never  did  believe  in  bluffing.  The 
only  time  I  ever  put  up  a  good  stiff  bluff  was 
on  one  occasion  at  poker  —  and  I  was  called, 
good  and  proper! " 

"  Well,"  Greenleaf  went  on,  "  I  had  learned 
a  good  deal  about  machinery  and  factories 
during  those  ten  years,  for  I  had  been  in  touch 
with  them  constantly  and  with  machinery 
salesmen;  but  I  hadn't  fully  realized  the 
difficulties  I  should  be  up  against.  The  com- 
petition I  now  encountered  was  something 
pathetic. 

"  Yet  here,  too,  were  the  same  underlying 
principles  of  salesmanship.  The  goods,  of 

98 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

course,  were  the  first  consideration.  My  long 
experience  as  a  disinterested  observer  gave  me 
exceptional  advantages.  I  knew  what  the  fac- 
tory owners  really  thought  of  the  different 
makes  of  machines.  During  all  those  years  I 
had  watched  results  and  grown  familiar  with 
machinery  troubles.  Most  salesmen  become 
more  or  less  warped  when  they  handle  one 
line  of  goods  for  a  long  time.  Put  an  oak 
plank  out  in  the  sun  and  let  it  lie  there  for  a 
year  and  see  what  happens  to  it.  I  have  seen 
a  square  chunk  of  oak  so  changed  by  the  action 
of  the  elements  that  it  became  a  mere  shape- 
less lump.  I  have  seen  salesmen's  judgment 
deformed  in  the  same  way." 

"  The  keen  salesman  will  guard  himself 
against  such  a  fate  —  which  means  certain 
failure,"  said  Barnes.  "  When  a  man  gets 
where  he  cannot  see  wherein  his  own  goods 
are  inferior  to  his  competitor's  it  is  time  to 
retire  him  to  the  home  for  superannuated 
salesmen,  with  a  gruel  diet." 

"  So  now  I  had  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
the  deficiencies  in  the  machinery  I  was  to 
handle,"  Greenleaf  told  us.  "  The  first  thing 
I  did  was  to  open  up  a  broadside  on  the  manu- 

99 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

facturing  end  of  the  business.  It  might  have 
seemed  odd  that  the  house  should  pay  me  nine 
thousand  dollars  a  year  to  roast  the  factory. 
Those  factory  fellows  were  pretty  sore  at  me, 
I  can  tell  you,  and  we  had  it  hot  and  heavy 
for  several  months.  Once  or  twice  the  conflict 
between  the  selling  and  manufacturing  de- 
partments assumed  a  spectacular  aspect  and  I 
almost  thought  my  fine  job  would  go  glim- 
mering; but  when  a  man  is  prepared  to  sacri- 
fice nine  thousand  a  year  on  his  convictions, 
his  sincerity  ought  to  be  taken  for  granted. 
It  ought  to  be  apparent  that  he  is  working  for 
the  interests  of  his  house. 

"  I  won  out.  One  by  one  the  house  cor- 
rected the  faults  upon  which  I  had  thrown  the 
limelight;  moreover,  we  immensely  strength- 
ened our  laboratory  and  experimental  depart- 
ment, gave  employment  to  a  double  force  of 
research  workers  and  inventors,  and  took 
every  measure  possible  to  keep  our  product 
up  to  high  standards  and  to  make  the  business 
progressive. 

"  I  think  that  my  dissection  of  our  product 
did  more  to  give  our  sales  a  new  impetus  than 
anything  that  could  have  happened.  This 

100 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

had  not  been  contemplated  when  I  was  hired. 
The  management  had  supposed  that  I  would 
start  out  merely  as  a  man  with  original  selling 
ideas,  letting  the  factory  take  care  of  itself. 
Other  salesmen  had  been  doing  this;  but  I 
showed  the  higher  officials  that  the  chief  sell- 
ing idea  of  all  must  lie  in  the  goods." 

It  was  Barnes,  as  usual,  who  interrupted. 

"  I  have  little  patience,"  he  said,  "  with  a 
salesman  who  will  talk  a  customer's  arm  off 
to  prove  that  black  is  white.  Instead  of  argu- 
ing with  the  customer,  he  ought  to  get  after 
the  head  of  his  house  and  demonstrate  that 
black  is  n't  white.  If  the  head  of  the  house 
can't  see  it,  then  there  are  other  and  better 
jobs  awaiting  the  salesman." 

"  You  put  it  aptly,"  assented  Greenleaf. 
"  Now  during  my  service  as  an  oil  salesman 
I  had  been  impressed  with  many  crude  and 
bungling  methods  pursued  in  the  majority  of 
factories.  Especially  I  had  observed  that 
most  manufacturers  gave  little  attention  to  the 
problem  of  grouping  machines  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. This  often  necessitated  the  purchase 
of  equipment  that  would  not  have  been  re- 
quired under  a  more  convenient  layout.  Now 

101 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

I  saw  a  chance  here  to  work  in  some  original 
selling  ideas. 

"  The  first  really  big  test  of  my  machinery 
salesmanship  came  out  on  Puget  Sound.  A 
large  factory  was  planned,  and  I  was  sent 
there  to  get  the  order  for  our  particular  equip- 
ment—  an  easy  thing  to  talk  about! 

"  When  I  got  there  six  or  eight  competing 
salesmen  were  already  lined  up  —  and  as 
many  more  arrived  shortly  afterward.  Most 
of  us  had  come  across  the  continent.  Only 
one  could  get  the  order;  all  the  other  con- 
cerns must  suffer  rout.  The  whole  thing 
looked  like  a  fantastic  proposition  beside  my 
little  grocery  job  of  former  years.  My  salary 
of  about  twenty-five  dollars  a  day  went  along 
seven  days  a  week;  so  did  my  expense  account 
of  ten  dollars  a  day.  If  I  failed  my  house 
might  be  out  a  thousand  dollars. 

"  With  all  those  salesmen,  each  with  his 
own  arguments,  it  was  no  wonder  that  the 
owners  of  the  new  corporation  were  scarcely 
able  to  reach  a  decision.  For  my  own  part,  I 
was  pleased  over  the  delay;  in  fact,  I  finally 
secured  a  promise  from  the  president  of 
the  company  that  no  contract  would  be 

102 


ON   THE   MAIN   TRACK 

signed  before  a  given  day,  several  weeks 
ahead. 

"  Meanwhile  I  was  secretly  busy  on  a  radi- 
cally different  layout  for  the  proposed  plant 
I  did  not  pretend  to  be  a  mechanical  engineer 
or  draftsman;  but  ordinary  horse-sense, 
coupled  with  a  faculty  for  analyzing  an  idea, 
will  sometimes  accomplish  more  than  mere 
technical  skill  minus  the  creative  faculty.  I 
am  a  firm  believer  in  vivisection  for  the  good 
of  mankind.  I  let  the  doctors  cut  up  the  dogs 
and  rabbits  and  monkeys;  my  own  specialty 
is  dissecting  the  living  business. 

"  When  I  had  worked  out  my  idea  I  was 
able  to  show  how  the  product  of  that  factory 
could  be  routed  through  the  various  depart- 
ments without  a  single  backward  movement, 
from  the  time  the  raw  material  entered  the 
receiving  room  until  the  finished  article  was 
loaded  on  the  cars.  This  effected  a  heavy  per- 
centage of  saving  in  the  handling  cost,  a  con- 
siderable reduction  in  operating  space,  a 
greater  capacity  for  output,  and  so  on.  More- 
over, it  reduced  the  machinery  investment 
quite  a  bit.  Some  modifications  in  my  own 
goods  were  necessitated,  but  nothing  that 

103 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

presented  a  serious  problem  in  mechanical 
engineering. 

"  This  scheme  I  laid  before  the  officers  of 
the  corporation  in  a  private  conference 
granted  me  while  my  competing  friends  tore 
their  hair  outside.  It  clinched  the  deal  and 
my  house  got  the  contract.  The  details  of  this 
affair  were  never  given  out  to  the  other  sales- 
men. My  general  scheme  was  submitted  by 
the  new  concern  to  competent  technical  au- 
thorities, who  put  it  into  engineering  shape  — 
and  the  factory  was  built  accordingly. 

"  Afterward  I  became  sales  manager  for 
my  firm ;  but  when  the  company  was  merged 
with  another  I  elected  to  go  on  the  road  again 
at  a  much  larger  salary. 

"  So  I  want  to  urge  on  salesmen  —  I  feel  a 
deep  fellowship  for  a  craft  so  full  of  snares 
and  illusions  —  the  truth  that  salesmanship 
lies  in  getting  under  the  skin  of  the  customer 
in  some  way  that  really  redounds  to  his  bene- 
fit. Whether  you  approach  him  with  the 
pianissimo  stop  on,  or  the  tremolo  gurgle 
going,  or  the  forte  pedal  jammed  down 
hard,  makes  little  difference  in  the  long  run. 
Your  success  will  be  proportioned  to  the 

104 


ON    THE    MAIN    TRACK 

number  of  times  you  have  really  benefited 
him." 

Almost  as  Greenleaf  finished,  the  Limited 
came  to  a  stop  —  stalled  hard  and  fast  on  the 
upgrade.  And  scarcely  had  she  stopped  when 
we  saw  the  rear  flagman  drop  off  the  platform 
back  of  us  and  run  down  the  track  with  his 
danger  signal  fluttering  in  his  hand.  It  was 
Frothingham  who  called  our  attention  to  the 
incident. 

"  In  railroading,"  he  observed,  "  we  must 
have  an  organization  of  men  who  know  their 
duties  —  every  one  of  them.  In  the  operating 
department  there  cannot  be  the  incompetence 
Barnes  has  deprecated  in  the  organizations  of 
commercial  business.  Incompetence  here 
means  death!  You  see  at  this  moment  an  in- 
stance of  real  organization.  Behold  this  flag- 
man, doing  his  duty  like  an  automatic  piece  of 
machinery!  We  trust  our  lives  to  him,  yet 
he  is  only  a  humble  cog  in  a  great  machine. 
Is  it  not  possible  to  organize  the  everyday 
business  so  that  men  will  know  their  duties 
and  perform  them  with  the  instant  readiness 
and  comprehension  of  this  rear  flagman?" 

"  It  is!  "  spoke  up  Hopkins,  as  we  all  stood 
105 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

on  the  hind  platform  and  looked  rather 
anxiously  down  the  steep  right-of-way.  "  It 
is,  most  assuredly!  In  my  own  business  I  have 
long  sought  to  model  my  organization  upon 
the  plan  of  a  railroad." 


106 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  REAR  FLAGMAN 

THE  second  section  of  the  Overland  Lim- 
ited was  close  behind  us,  and,  being 
lighter,  was  coming  up  the  mountain  at 
very  good  speed.  As  we  found  out  afterward, 
something  was  wrong  with  the  block  signals, 
and  except  for  that  rear  flagman  who  dropped 
off  the  hind  platform  of  the  observation- 
smoker  and  ran  back  at  full  speed  with  his 
signal,  this  second  section  would  have  crashed 
into  us  from  around  the  curve. 

It  was  a  narrow  escape,  I  heard  Dorothy 
Dowe  remark  to  her  father.  A  score  of  the 
passengers  had  crowded  themselves  on  to  the 
observation-car  platform,  and  stood  looking 
with  awe  at  the  steel  monster  which  now  ap- 
proached cautiously.  The  second  section  was 
to  help  us  get  started  up  the  hill  again.  It  was 
a  narrow  escape,  somebody  else  reiterated. 

Now,  for  my  part,  I  saw  that  it  was  not  a 
107 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

narrow  escape,  at  all.  It  was  merely  an  inci- 
dent of  railroading.  The  narrow  escapes  are 
the  things  that  chance  averts,  and  this  escape 
was  averted  by  organization. 

"  At  one  time,"  said  I,  to  Dorothy's  father, 
as  we  stood  there,  "  the  department  store  of 
Munn  &  Moorehouse  —  that  was  before  I  be- 
came Junior  Partner,  remember  —  was  trav- 
eling up  a  steep  hill,  like  this  train,  sir.  It 
had  gone  along  very  nicely  on  the  level,  but 
when  it  struck  the  upgrade  it  labored  and 
slowed  down,  and  finally  stopped.  It  was 
stalled  on  the  mountain  side.  There  were 
other  department  stores  in  New  York  that 
were  making  the  grade  easily,  and  except  for 
chance  we  should  have  been  tumbled  off  down 
the  embankment  by  a  rear-end  collision." 

It  is  funny  how  the  associations  of  a  day 
or  two  will  change  a  man's  viewpoint.  Here 
was  Dowe,  the  arithmetician,  the  cold-blooded 
man  of  finance,  the  believer  in  literal  realism. 
He  was  the  man  who  had  disparaged  imagi- 
nation in  business  and  declared  that  mathe- 
matics alone  were  worth  while.  Yet  now  I 
saw  his  eyes  light  with  pleasure  when  I  made 
this  rather  poetical  metaphor.  And  I  saw 

108 


THE    REAR    FLAGMAN 

Dorothy  Dowe  glance  at  me  with  surprise  in 
her  brown  eyes.  To  her,  I  suppose,  business 
had  always  been  something  that  had  no  poetry 
in  it. 

"  I  infer,  then,"  said  Dowe,  "  that  the  firm 
of  Munn,  Moorehouse  &  Gaylord  —  as  the 
name  is  to-day  —  has  a  rear  flagman  out" 

"We  carry  a  rear  flagman,"  I  answered; 
"  and  he  is  always  ready  to  drop  off  and  run 
back  with  his  signal  in  case  our  train  stops. 
But  of  recent  years,  Mr.  Dowe,  we  Ve  been 
going  up  the  hill  pretty  steadily.  Our  engine 
is  big  enough  to  haul  us,  and  our  fireman  is 
good  at  handling  coal.  The  engineer  is  one 
of  the  most  expert  on  the  road,  and  I  never 
knew  one  who  had  a  steadier  nerve." 

"  You  Ve  neglected  to  mention  the  conduc- 
tor," Dowe  observed,  dryly. 

"  Being  inclined  toward  modesty,"  I  an- 
swered, "  I  chose  not  to  speak  of  him." 

"  Ah!  I  forget  that  you  yourself  were  the 
conductor.  In  former  days  I  knew  your  house 
quite  well.  And  let  me  see;  some  twenty 
years  ago  I  believe  Mr.  Moorehouse  applied 
to  my  bank  for  a  loan.  If  I  recollect  right, 
he  wanted  forty  thousand  dollars." 

109 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  Your  memory  is  excellent,"  said  I.  "  Mr. 
Moorehouse  has  often  spoken  to  me  of  the 
incident.  It  was  forty-two  thousand  dollars 
the  firm  needed.  You  refused  both  the  loan 
and  our  account." 

I  'd  had  no  intention  of  throwing  this  up  at 
Dowe,  but  now  I  could  not  resist.  I  meant  his 
daughter  to  know  that  I  came  of  a  different 
breed  from  Van  Dyke's.  I  meant  to  let  her 
know  I  had  done  things  in  the  world,  and  that 
even  her  father  had  cause  to  respect  me. 

"  Yes,"  assented  Dowe,  "  I  refused  the  loan, 
and  perhaps  the  account,  as  well.  At  that 
time  the  firm  of  Munn  &  Moorehouse  was  not 
one  that  my  bank  cared  to  finance.  Of  course, 
could  I  have  foreseen  —  " 

"  Please  don't  apologize,"  I  interrupted, 
casting  a  guarded  glance  at  Miss  Dorothy. 
"  Don't  apologize,  Mr.  Dowe.  At  the  time  of 
which  we  speak,  I  was  only  a  small  boy  on  the 
East  Side.  It  was  not  until  several  years  later 
that  I  entered  the  employ  of  Munn  &  Moore- 
house. Therefore  the  refusal  of  the  loan  of 
forty-two  thousand  dollars  was  in  nowise  a 
reflection  upon  my  business  management.  But 
I  take  it,  Mr.  Dowe,  that  if  Munn,  Moore- 

no 


THE    REAR    FLAGMAN 

house  &  Gaylord  desired  to  borrow  that  sum 
to-day,  your  bank  would  not  show  us  the 
door." 

That  elusive  smile  played  for  a  moment 
about  the  banker's  lips.  "  No,"  he  acknowl- 
edged. "  My  bank  would  prize  the  account 
of  Munn,  Moorehouse  &  Gaylord.  Your  es- 
tablishment, Mr.  Gaylord,  is  one  of  the  great- 
est in  all  Manhattan.  Its  growth  during  re- 
cent years  has  been  most  astonishing." 

"  It  is  my  ambition,"  I  answered,  "  to  make 
our  store  not  only  one  of  the  greatest,  but  the 
greatest  —  the  greatest  in  America,  and  per- 
haps in  the  world.  And  I  want  to  emphasize 
the  fact,  Mr.  Dowe  —  since  we  have  been  talk- 
ing of  money  and  loans  —  that  our  amazing 
growth  has  not  been  due  to  capital.  True, 
we  have  large  capital  at  our  command  to-day, 
and  for  years  have  been  obliged  to  employ 
great  sums  of  money,  but  our  original  impetus 
was  due  to  something  else  rather  than  cash." 

"  Your  growth,  I  take  it,"  said  Dowe,  "  was 
due  to  management." 

"  The  term '  management,'  "  I  answered,  "  is 
vague.  It  would  be  more  concrete  to  say  that 
our  growth  has  been  due  directly  to  this  thing 

in 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

we   have   observed  here   on   the   railroad  — 
*  organization.' ' 

"  But  *  organization,'  too,  is  vague,"  sug- 
gested Dowe. 

"Ah,  true  enough!"  I  exclaimed.  "To 
most  business  houses  it  is  extremely  vague.  It 
means  almost  nothing.  But  to  Munn,  Moore- 
house  &  Gaylord  it  means  definite,  tangible 
things  —  so  tangible  that  we  can  reckon  them 
as  we  do  the  dollars." 

I  saw  that  Dowe  was  deeply  interested  - 
naturally  enough  for  a  banker.  But,  of  far 
greater  moment  to  me,  was  the  curiosity  I  read 
in  Miss  Dorothy's  eyes.  She  was  regarding 
me  gravely  as  she  clung  to  the  arm  of  her 
father.  Organization,  of  course,  meant  noth- 
ing to  her,  but  she  was  conscious  of  something 
that  aroused  an  interest  in  me.  I  was  talking 
of  bigger  things  than  society. 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  your  definition  of 
this  thing  we  call  organization,"  said  Dowe. 

"  It  is  quite  impossible  to  give  it  in  abstract 
terms,"  I  told  him;  "  the  definition  would  run 
too  long,  even  were  it  possible  to  make  it  un- 
derstandable. Besides,  I  am  scheduled  as  one 
of  the  narrators  in  our  circle  of  seven.  It 

112 


would  scarcely  be  fair  to  the  others,  Mr. 
Dowe,  were  I  to  anticipate  here." 

I  saw  an  odd  expression  flit  over  the  girl's 
face,  and  I  wondered  what  her  thoughts  were. 
She  knew  that  the  seven  of  us  were  telling 
success-stories,  and  she  knew,  too,  that  Van 
Dyke  had  no  such  tale  to  relate. 

Well,  the  locomotive  of  the  second  section 
coupled  on  to  the  rear  of  our  train,  and,  with 
a  tremendous  escaping  of  steam  and  revolving 
of  wheels,  we  moved  slowly  upward  and  on- 
ward. I  have  often  thought,  as  I  have  taken 
these  long  journeys  across  continents,  that  not 
only  the  organization  counts,  but  the  ever- 
lasting persistence,  as  well.  It  is  the  keeping 
at  it  that  does  the  thing.  When  I  awake  in  the 
morning,  I  hear  the  throbbing  of  the  locomo- 
tive ahead.  All  day,  as  I  sit  at  my  ease  — 
reading,  smoking,  or  dreaming —  I  hear  the 
chug-chug  of  that  monster  in  front,  and  on  we 
go  toward  our  destination.  At  night,  when  I 
crawl  into  my  narrow  confines  and  arrange 
the  blankets  about  me,  I  hear  that  fiery  crea- 
ture at  work  out  there  ahead  of  us.  And  when 
I  stir  uneasily  in  the  small  hours,  and  lie  half 
waking,  half  sleeping,  I  still  hear  the  noise  of 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

the  exhaust,  and  the  fast  click  of  the  wheels  on 
the  steel  under  us.  Except  for  the  persistence 
we  should  never  get  there,  even  though  we  had 
the  path  stretching  out  toward  the  terminal. 

So  it  has  been  the  keeping  at  it  that  has 
brought  our  firm  of  Munn,  Moorehouse  & 
Gaylord  so  far  on  its  journey.  There  have 
been  times  when  the  storms  nearly  discour- 
aged us  and  the  toil  of  our  task  made  us 
faint-hearted.  But  the  keeping  at  it  took  us 
through. 

Dorothy  went  back  to  join  the  feminine 
members  of  our  party  in  the  forward  part  of 
the  train,  while  the  seven  of  us  disposed  our- 
selves once  more,  to  hear  Hopkins'  story.  I 
put  the  girl  quite  out  of  my  mind.  Women, 
you  know,  had  played  no  part  whatever  in  my 
strange  career;  so  why  should  one  of  them 
distract  my  thoughts  now? 


114 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  MANUFACTURER'S  STORY 

"  "E  yf"  Y  father  was  a  carpenter,"  said  Hop- 
I  y  J     kins,  "  and  we  lived  in  a  small  town 
not  far  from  Boston.    We  were  poor 
-what  carpenter's  family  isn't?     The  phi- 
losophy upon  which  I  afterward  based  my 
career  was  something  my  father  had  never 
thought  out.     You  know  that  success  is  the 
outcome  of  a  philosophy  —  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  it!" 

"  You  have  hit  the  keynote  of  my  own  ex- 
perience," said  Frothingham,  quickly.  "  I 
succeeded  because  of  a  definite  and  well-for- 
mulated philosophy." 

I  confess  I  was  a  good  deal  surprised  to  hear 
this  from  the  lips  of  a  railroad  magnate  of 
Frothingham's  caliber.  In  the  opinion  of  the 
public,  he  had  gained  his  eminence  through 
sleight-of-hand  tricks  with  railroad  finance. 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

No  one  had  ever  hinted  that  a  philosophy  of 
winning  had  entered  into  his  career  at  all. 
However,  it  was  not  yet  time  to  hear  details 
from  Frothingham. 

"  My  father  supported  his  family  nicely, 
considering  our  sphere  in  life,"  Hopkins  con- 
tinued. "  Men  who  work  chiefly  with  their 
hands  can  never  expect  to  employ  a  French 
cook.  I  don't  mean  to  belittle  the  artisan  or 
laborer,  upon  whom  much  of  our  civilization 
depends.  Not  at  all!  I  realize  that  the 
scheme  of  things  in  this  life  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people  to  get 
above  a  certain  level.  Nevertheless,  I  'm 
speaking  now  of  that  very  large  class  which 
is  fighting  all  the  time  for  something  better. 
Among  this  class  are  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  individuals  who  do  stand  a  chance  for 
vastly  better  things;  and  they  can  get  those 
better  things  if  first  they  '11  get  a  philosophy. 

"  So  my  father  might  have  done  more  than 
he  did,  but  he  never  figured  it  out.  He  went 
on  working  all  his  life  with  his  hands,  and 
when  he  died  he  left  nothing  except  a  good 
name.  He  was  a  just  and  honest  man,  my 
father  was.  But  after  all,  gentlemen,  this  is 

116 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

not  the  full  heritage  a  man  should  leave  to 
the  world.  He  can  do  greater  deeds  than 
mere  justice.  He  can  be  one  of  those  who 
build  the  nation  —  who  plan  and  execute  for 
the  well-being  and  happiness  of  generations 
to  come.  He  can  be  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
people,  not  a  mere  follower. 

"  In  early  life  I  followed  in  my  father's 
footsteps  because  the  saw  and  the  hammer  and 
the  fragrance  of  sawdust  had  a  charm  for  me. 
I  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  out  there  in 
the  country,  and  finally,  still  in  my  teens,  I 
went  up  to  Boston  because  a  philosophy  — 
very  vague  and  little  at  first  —  was  beginning 
to  work  in  my  brain.  I  wanted  to  get  along 
faster;  I  went  after  the  opportunity. 

"  In  Boston  I  took  a  fancy  to  the  finer  side 
of  my  calling,  and  became  a  cabinet-maker. 
And  then  my  embryo  philosophy  told  me  that 
if  I  wanted  to  grow  I  must  originate  things. 
I  worked  many  weeks  over  an  office  contriv- 
ance that  had  suggested  itself  to  me,  and 
finally,  when  I  completed  the  model  and  pat- 
ented it,  I  quit  my  job  and  started  out  to  make 
the  thing  myself.  I  began  my  manufacturing 
career  in  a  room  twelve  feet  square,  doing  all 

117 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

the  work  with  my  own  hands.  That  year  I 
netted  less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  al- 
though I  worked  ten  and  twelve  hours  a  day. 
I  was  in  business  for  myself,  but  I  was  n't 
much  of  a  success. 

"  At  the  end  of  that  first  year  I  hired  a 
young  fellow  named  Sam  Green  to  work  for 
me.  Sam  and  I  were  about  the  same  age  and 
had  been  employed  together  in  a  furniture 
factory.  I  knew  him  to  be  a  good  cabinet- 
maker and  was  willing  to  trust  him  with  the 
careful  work  required  in  making  the  office 
device  I  had  originated.  Sam  justified  my 
expectations. 

"  For  a  year  we  two  worked  side  by  side 
and,  although  I  labored  no  harder  than  I  had 
done. during  my  year  alone,  my  net  profits  rose 
above  a  thousand  dollars,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  I  paid  Sam  about  eight  hundred 
dollars. 

"  My  additional  profit,  it  is  evident,  came 
from  the  labor  of  my  workman.  In  contem- 
plating this  fact  I  discovered,  ultimately,  a 
fundamental  secret  that  has  helped  me  more 
than  anything  else  toward  success.  Aside 
from  the  goods,  the  most  vital  problem  in 

1 1 8 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

manufacturing,  as  well  as  in  business  gener- 
ally, is  to  pick  out  profitable  workers.  The 
professional  man  may  attain  a  high  degree  of 
success  through  his  own  efforts  chiefly;  the 
business  man  cannot  by  any  possibility  do  so. 
He  is  either  kept  afloat  by  his  employees  or 
dragged  under  by  them." 

"  I  have  heard  it  said,"  observed  Barnes, 
"  that  seventy  varieties  of  fungi  resemble 
mushrooms  very  closely.  I  know  at  least  a 
thousand  varieties  of  men  who  resemble  the 
man  who  will  pay  you  a  profit  as  an  employee. 
You  Ve  got  to  know  the  genuine  mushrooms 
from  the  toadstools  and  pufTballs." 

"Well,  Sam  Green  was  the  real  thing; 
there  was  no  doubt  about  that,"  assured  Hop- 
kins. "  He  was  the  genuine  mushroom,  but 
I  regret  to  say  I  did  n't  fully  realize  it  at  that 
time.  My  failure  to  do  so  cost  me  a  great 
deal  of  money  during  the  twenty  years  that 
followed  —  literally  millions  of  dollars.  I  'm 
going  to  tell  you  a  little  about  Sam  Green,  but 
first  I  want  to  make  my  fundamental  propo- 
sition clearer. 

"  Suppose  I  had  not  hired  Sam  Green  or 
any  other  man  to  work  for  me,  but  had  gone 

119 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

on  working  alone  at  the  bench  for  thirty  years. 
I  might  have  earned  an  aggregate  profit,  say, 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Plenty  of  men 
earn  no  more  than  that.  But  as  a  manufac- 
turer or  merchant  I  'd  have  been  a  failure. 
It  need  n't  take  much  argument,  then,  to  con- 
vince you  that  the  huge  plant  my  company 
owns  to-day  represents  the  aggregate  profit 
returned  by  thousands  of  workmen  during 
many  years.  They  were  not  all  Sam  Greens; 
if  they  had  been  I  'd  have  been  richer  than 
John  D.  or  Carnegie.  Most  of  them,  how- 
ever, were  profitable  to  me,  otherwise  the  fac- 
tory would  n't  be  there.  I  don't  care  whether 
you  employ  one  man  or  ten  thousand,  the  prin- 
ciple is  the  same. 

"  But  suppose  that  instead  of  hiring  Sam 
Green  that  second  year  I  had  hired  an  incom- 
petent workman,  who  had  turned  out  such 
poor  product  that  the  claims  against  me  ex- 
ceeded the  profits;  or  suppose  that  my  mar- 
kets had  n't  justified  the  expense  of  a  man's 
wage.  In  either  event  my  business  would  have 
failed  right  there. 

"  I  have  frequently  seen  this  sort  of  thing 
done  by  concerns  of  all  sizes  —  merchants  as 

120 


well  as  manufacturers.  I  have  watched  young 
men  struggling  to  get  started  in  business,  when 
I  knew  they  were  doomed  to  failure  because 
they  had  no  conception  of  the  underlying  truth 
that  workers  must  return  a  profit.  The  study 
and  development  of  your  workers  are  the 
things  that  will  make  your  business  grow. 

"  Though  I  partly  realized  this  truth  even 
during  my  second  year  in  business,  I  got  away 
from  it  for  a  while,  not  having  any  concrete 
mechanism  for  applying  it.  You  often  find 
business  men  with  splendid  theories  floating 
over  their  heads  just  out  of  reach.  That  was 
the  trouble  with  me.  I  knew  that  workmen 
ought  to  pay  a  profit,  but  I  did  n't  know  how 
to  measure  up  the  individual  profits  from  my 
employees.  Because  I  had  n't  studied  men, 
the  difficulties  I  encountered  turned  my  hair 
gray  at  twenty-five. 

"  My  troubles  did  not  come  immediately. 
My  third  year  in  business  was  marked  by  such 
a  surprising  demand  for  my  goods  that  I  not 
only  employed  several  workmen,  but  in- 
creased my  shop  area  and  installed  costly  ma- 
chinery. The  fourth  year  was  even  better,  and 
again  I  branched  out,  adding  largely  to  my 

121 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

equipment.  Sam  Green  was  now  my  foreman. 
He  was  a  queer,  quiet  sort  of  chap,  who  always 
seemed  to  have  something  on  his  mind  that  he 
was  n't  telling  folks  about.  Nevertheless  he 
kept  the  shop  on  strict  discipline  and  the  prod- 
uct up  to  perfection  of  workmanship. 

"  Meanwhile  I  had  made  a  contract  with 
a  firm  of  wholesale  distributors  whereby  I 
agreed  to  turn  over  to  them  my  entire  product 
for  a  term  of  years.  They  were  to  do  all  the 
selling  and  I  was  relieved  of  the  necessity  of 
having  a  sales  department.  This  I  considered 
a  fine  bit  of  management.  I  was  young, 
remember. 

"  But  when  I  was  on  the  crest  of  the  wave, 
as  I  thought,  something  happened.  It  was  the 
very  thing  that  ought  not  to  have  happened, 
and  yet  I  see  the  same  thing  occurring  all 
round  me  to-day.  It  was  Sam  Green  who  did 
it.  There  are  plenty  of  Sam  Greens 
everywhere.  The  thing  Sam  did  was  to 
quit  me. 

"  I  now  had  thirty-odd  workmen  and  was 
netting  six  or  eight  thousand  dollars  a  year  — 
just  a  neat  little  manufacturing  business,  clean, 
compact,  running  like  grease.  As  a  group 

122 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

my  workers  were  profitable  to  me;  as  indi- 
viduals I  was  n't  always  able  to  say.  In  fact, 
I  had  got  so  far  away  from  my  fundamental 
theorem  that  I  had  come  to  look  on  my  work- 
ing force  as  a  group  —  a  dangerous  thing 
to  do. 

"  Had  I  studied  the  men  as  individuals,  I 
should  have  seen  that  Sam  Green  was  worth 
more  to  me  than  most  of  the  others  put  to- 
gether. Had  I  studied  Sam  in  particular, 
I  should  have  found  out  what  he  was  thinking 
about  during  all  those  years.  Then  I  'd  have 
been  willing  to  pay  him  more  than  twenty 
dollars,  instead  of  telling  him  on  several  occa- 
sions that  I  could  get  plenty  of  competent 
foremen  for  twenty  a  week. 

"  Well,  Sam  Green  had  been  holding  out  a 
lot  of  ideas  on  me,  and  now  he  started  a  little 
factory  of  his  own  and  began  making  a  device 
that  was  a  vast  improvement  over  mine." 

"  When  I  was  a  boy,"  said  Barnes,  "  I  at- 
tended a  Sunday  school  and  belonged  to  a 
class  of  ten  boys  taught  by  Miss  Jones.  One 
Sunday  my  class  contributed  forty-six  cents 
to  the  collection,  and  the  superintendent  made 
a  nice  little  speech  in  which  he  threw  meta- 

123 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

phors  at  us  boys  as  a  group.  Now  it  happened 
that  Bobbie  Brown  and  I  had  held  out  our 
nickels  and  had  n't  dropped  anything  into  the 
box;  we  meant  to  buy  peanuts  or  candy  next 
day.  Willie  Hawkshaw,  who  had  a  rich  aunt, 
had  dropped  in  a  quarter.  Willie  was  the 
genuine  mushroom,  but  the  man  who  ran  the 
Sunday  school  didn't  know  it  If  there  had 
been  a  list  of  the  individual  contributors 
Bobbie  and  I  would  have  shown  up  as  toad- 
stools." 

"  It  was  the  same  proposition  with  Sam 
Green,"  Hopkins  said.  "  I  had  n't  been  wise 
enough  to  detach  him  from  the  group;  I 
had  n't  seen  that  he  was  a  Willie  Hawkshaw 
with  a  quarter  to  drop  into  the  collection  box. 
So  Sam  got  away  from  me,  while  a  lot  of 
puffballs  stayed  on  my  payroll.  There  was 
old  Hank  Slosser,  for  instance,  and  Pete  Jor- 
gan  and  Slim  Mike.  I  might  have  seen  that 
they  were  holding  out  their  nickels  and  taking 
their  share  of  the  credit  for  my  neat  little 
business. 

"  Well,  I  was  pretty  mad  for  a  while. 
Sam's  disloyalty  seemed  beyond  belief.  I  Ve 
known  a  lot  of  business  men  who  Ve  thought 

124 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

that  twenty  dollars  a  week  ought  to  buy  an 
employee,  body,  brain,  and  soul. 

"  But  now  that  confounded  ex-foreman 
of  mine  —  that  twenty-dollar-a-week  chap  — 
played  his  game  like  a  general.  He  went 
straight  to  the  wholesale  concern  that  had  the 
exclusive  contract  on  my  product.  '  See  here,' 
said  he  to  these  agents :  '  I  Ve  got  an  article 
of  my  own  that  is  fifty  per  cent  better  than  the 
stuff  my  former  boss  is  making.  I  Ve  been 
studying  that  stuff  a  long  time  and  figuring 
out  ways  to  improve  it.  Here  's  the  result.  I 
want  you  to  handle  it  for  me.  We  Ve  got  that 
other  stuff  bottled  up  tight.  Under  your  con- 
tract it 's  got  to  be  sold  through  you,  and  you 
can  just  go  along  easy  with  it  and  give  my 
goods  the  right-of-way.  A  few  customers 
will  buy  his  old  contrivance,  no  doubt,  but 
most  of  them  will  want  mine.  I  '11  make  very 
favorable  terms  with  you  and  we  '11  skim  the 
cream  off  the  trade.  See?'  And  that  was 
what  they  did. 

"  Of  course  I  went  to  law  —  I  was  just 
young  enough  to  do  that.  I  hired  the  lawyer 
who  had  drawn  the  contract  in  the  first  place, 
and  told  him  to  go  into  court  and  prove  that 

125 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

those  selling-agents  had  no  right  to  take  Sam 
Green's  goods,  but  were  under  legal  obliga- 
tions to  handle  mine  exclusively  or  else  cancel 
the  contract  and  let  me  sell  my  goods  to  the 
public  myself. 

"  For  two  years  my  lawyer  quoted  prece- 
dents to  the  courts.  For  every  day  he  spent  in 
the  court-house  I  paid  him  a  hundred  dollars, 
and  for  contemplating  the  contract  in  the 
privacy  of  his  office  he  got  fifty  dollars  a  day. 
But  two  of  the  courts  ruled  against  me,  decid- 
ing that  as  long  as  I  manufactured  the  par- 
ticular office  device  in  question  I  must  market 
it  through  this  distributing  firm.  Nor  could 
I  force  that  firm  to  push  the  sale  of  my  device 
exclusively. 

"  Then  one  night  I  took  the  contract  home 
with  me  and  sat  down  under  a  strong  light. 
If  I  'd  done  that  in  the  first  place  I  'd  have 
saved  four  thousand  dollars  in  cash  and  two 
wasted  years.  I  had  n't  any  legs  to  stand  on 
—  I  could  see  it  myself.  The  contract  was  a 
one-sided  affair,  and  I  was  bottled  up  good 
and  tight  by  Sam  Green  and  my  selling- 
agents. 

"  I  woke  up.  I  called  off  the  litigation. 
126 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

It  had  been  the  most  asinine  thing  I  'd  ever 
done;  for  even  if  I  'd  got  loose  from  the  sell- 
ing-agents, my  product  was  inferior  to  Green's 
and  would  have  been  difficult  to  sell.  Here  's 
a  bit  of  advice  in  passing: 

"  If  you  're  a  manufacturer,  don't  get  into 
a  bottle  and  let  a  distributing  firm  put  the 
cork  in.  If  I  were  a  young  man  to-day,  start- 
ing in  any  line  of  business  or  working  on  a 
salary,  I  would  n't  sit  on  the  neck  of  a  flask  for 
fear  I  'd  slip  in.  I  would  n't  put  my  goods  in 
a  single  channel  of  markets,  lest  that  channel 
run  dry;  nor  would  I  place  any  value  on  a 
contract  that  bound  an  employer  to  me  for  a 
specified  term.  Such  contracts  are  delusions. 
The  really  live  man  doesn't  need  them;  he 
stands  without  leaning. 

"  It  was  when  I  woke  up  that  I  got  back 
to  first  principles.  I  remembered  my  old 
theorem  that  every  workman  ought  to  pay  a 
profit.  If  it  had  n't  been  for  that  primal  prin- 
ciple to  fall  back  on,  I  believe  I  should  have 
quit  in  despair. 

"  I  now  had  only  ten  workmen  in  the  shop. 
I  was  heavily  in  debt;  creditors  were  press- 
ing; much  of  my  equipment  was  idle  because 

127 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

my  distributors  were  n't  selling  enough  of  my 
goods  to  keep  it  busy. 

"  I  don't  mean  to  burden  these  observations 
with  technical  procedures,  but  anybody  can 
see  that  a  machine-tool  standing  idle  is  return- 
ing its  owner  a  daily  loss.  It  is  costing  that 
owner  interest  on  his  investment,  taxes,  in- 
surance, depreciation,  rent,  office  expense,  and 
so  on.  Likewise,  a  store  counter  or  shelf  that 
is  not  being  used  to  its  normal  capacity  in  sell- 
ing goods  is  surely  returning  a  loss.  If  this 
truth  were  better  appreciated  in  business  there 
would  not  be  so  many  failures.  Half  the  ruin- 
ous losses  come  from  facilities  that  are  burn- 
ing up  expense  without  giving  back  a  profit." 

"  The  same  thing  is  true  in  private  life." 
This  came  from  Barnes.  "  Out  at  my  house  I 
use  steam  heat.  One  winter  I  had  a  janitor 
who  did  n't  understand  firing.  He  shoveled 
coal  vigorously  at  frequent  intervals,  but  he 
could  n't  get  steam  enough  to  keep  the  house 
warm.  A  big  volume  of  fire  burning  slowly 
will  make  steam,  but  you  can  burn  up  all  the 
coal  in  the  bin  without  getting  a  pound  on 
your  gauge  simply  by  feeding  in  the  fuel  in 
small  quantities  and  letting  it  burn  fiercely  in 
128 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

the  bottom  of  your  heater.  This  janitor 
burned  thirty-five  tons  that  winter,  but  my 
expensive  heating  plant  returned  me  a  loss. 
The  next  winter  a  new  janitor  kept  the  house 
warm  on  twenty  tons.  At  last  the  heating 
equipment  returned  a  profit." 

"  So  now  I  broadened  my  theorem."  Hop- 
kins went  on  with  his  narrative.  "  I  said  to 
myself:  'All  this  idle  equipment  is  costing 
me  as  much  as  a  whole  batch  of  idle  men  draw- 
ing pay.  There  's  only  one  difference  —  I  'd 
know  just  how  much  of  my  money  the  idle 
men  were  getting,  while  I  don't  know  how 
much  the  loafing  equipment  is  costing.' 

"  The  first  problem  in  cutting  down  ex- 
penses is  to  find  out  what  those  expenses  are; 
that 's  plain  enough  to  any  manufacturer,  mer- 
chant, or  householder.  Yet  show  me  a  hun- 
dred manufacturers,  merchants,  and  house- 
holders and  I  '11  show  you  ninety-five  who 
can't  give  you  their  itemized  expenses.  I 
know  concerns  that  have  a  strong  policy  for 
keeping  expense  down,  but  because  they 
have  n't  located  the  leaks  the  policy  itself  is 
a  tragic  joke.  As  long  as  you  regard  expense 
as  a  group  of  undetermined  items  you  will 

129 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

support  a  lot  of  items  that  correspond  ex- 
actly to  the  idle  or  incompetent  men  on  your 
payroll. 

"  Having  perceived  that  a  lot  of  expense 
devils  had  me  by  the  hand  and  were  dragging 
me  down  to  perdition,  I  determined  to  look 
each  one  of  those  devils  in  the  face  separately 
and  not  merely  face  the  whole  bunch  of  them. 
In  other  words,  I  analyzed  my  operating  costs. 
Unless  you  've  got  an  extraordinary  cinch  on 
your  markets,  you  Ve  got  to  do  this  if  you  hope 
for  much  success.  And  if  you  're  working  for 
wages  you  Ve  got  to  analyze  your  operating 
costs  just  the  same,  if  you  want  to  save  money. 
Householders  as  well  as  business  men  are 
swamped  by  these  costs.  Until  they  know  just 
how  much  they  pay  for  food,  clothes,  fuel, 
luxuries,  and  so  on,  and  just  how  much  they 
ought  to  pay  for  each  item,  they  can't  cut  ex- 
pense intelligently  or  find  ways  to  make  one 
dollar  do  the  work  of  two  dollars. 

"  However,  I  want  to  tell  you  something 
else  that  happened  —  something  tremendously 
big  and  important  —  so  I  '11  not  go  into  detail 
as  to  operating  costs.  I  need  only  say  that  any 
man  who  wants  to  get  at  his  costs  and  expenses 

130 


may  avail  himself  of  technical  procedures  that 
will  do  the  thing  for  him  with  mathematical 
accuracy. 

"  While  I  was  engaged  in  anatomizing  the 
cost  of  my  idle  equipment  and  finding  out  how 
much  profit  or  loss  each  workman  was  return- 
ing me,  I  called  in  my  foreman  —  the  man 
who  had  succeeded  Green. 

"  '  Booker,'  I  said  to  him,  '  we  Ve  got  to  do 
one  of  three  things:  First,  quit;  second,  sell 
or  scrap  all  our  idle  equipment  and  shrink  the 
business  to  conform  with  our  limited  markets; 
third,  cut  loose  absolutely  from  our  original 
product,  get  hold  of  something  else  to  manu- 
facture, and  reach  out  for  markets  that  we  can 
swing  independently.  Do  you  know  of  any 
goods  we  can  make  profitably  with  our  present 
equipment? ' 

"  Booker  did  n't.  He  was  n't  a  man  of  ideas, 
like  Green.  Twenty  dollars  a  week  was  more 
than  he  was  worth  to  me.  But  there  was  a 
young  chap  out  in  the  shop,  named  Fisher, 
who  'd  overheard  scraps  of  conversation  be- 
tween Booker  and  myself.  Now  he  came  to 
me.  '  I  Ve  got  some  ideas,'  he  said  rather 
modestly, '  and  I  'd  like  to  give  you  the  benefit 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

if  there  is  anything  in  it  for  me.  I  can  go  over 
to  Green's  factory  any  day  and  get  a  job,  and 
if  you  don't  care  to  take  up  my  ideas  I  'd  like 
to  see  Green  about  them.  He  's  been  after  me 
several  times.  You  see  he  knows  me  pretty 
well;  we  worked  together  here  quite  a 
while.' 

"  Now  I  knew  well  enough  that  I  had  n't 
managed  Green  right,  or  I  might  have  been 
making  his  goods  myself  instead  of  fighting 
him.  I  did  n't  intend  to  be  caught  the  same 
way  twice.  I  could  see  that  this  young  chap 
had  ideas  up  his  sleeve,  and  I  needed  ideas 
more  than  anything  else.  I  was  saturated 
with  legal  lore  and  worn  to  a  frazzle  with 
precedents.  Precedents  make  a  lot  of  money 
for  the  lawyers,  and  sometimes  are  all  right 
in  business ;  but  what  we  fellows  need  more 
is  original  wisdom. 

"  '  I  '11  tell  you  what  I  '11  do,  Fisher,'  said 
I,  mighty  quick.  '  If  you  Ve  got  any  ideas 
really  worth  while,  I  '11  fix  up  some  deal  with 
you  whereby  you  '11  get  a  fair  percentage  of 
the  profit  I  make  from  them.  Don't  take  any 
ideas  over  to  Green;  remember  that  I  '11  treat 
you  right  every  time.' ' 

132 


"  You  can't  always  tell  from  the  size  of  a 
toad  how  far  he  will  hop,"  Barnes  half 
soliloquized. 

"  I  Ve  seen  that  demonstrated  in  railroad- 
ing, time  and  again,"  added  Frothingham. 
"  I  remember  a  man  who  worked  under  me 
when  I  was  a  train  master.  We  had  words 
one  day  over  a  trifle,  and  he  quit.  A  few 
years  later  he  turned  up  as  my  superior,  and 
he  caused  me  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness,  I  can 
tell  you.  This  world  offers  queer  contradic- 
tions, and  the  man  is  wise  who  avoids  dis- 
putes over  non-essentials.  At  all  events,  it's" 
worth  while  to  cultivate  diplomacy  and  re- 
tain all  the  friends  possible.  You  never  know 
where  your  worst  enemy  is  to  show  up.  But_j 
usually  a  man  can  judge  the  abilities  of  an 
associate  with  tolerable  correctness.  These 
fellows  that  go  up  fast,  and  stay  up,  are  sure 
to  have  within  them  qualities  that  are  discov- 
erable by  their  fellow-workers,  as  well  as  by 
the  boss.  They  are  the  men  especially  whose 
friendship  is  worth  cultivating.  I  am  put- 
ting this,  gentlemen,  purely  on  a  business 
basis,  if  friendship  may  be  so  counted." 

"  There  are  two  kinds  of  friendship,"  said 
133 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

Barnes.  "  The  best  kind,  perhaps,  is  the 
purely  personal  friendship  —  the  sort  that 
moves  men  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  those 
to  whom  they  are  attached.  But  the  purely 
business  friendship  is  more  essential  to  suc- 
cess. A  business  man  has  a  lot  of  friends  who 
care  nothing  for  him  personally,  but  who 
hope,  somehow  or  other,  to  use  him  some  day. 
Now  I  am  not  one  of  those  narrow  individu- 
als who  belittle  friends  of  this  sort.  I  say  use 
your  friends,  and  let  them  use  you  —  to  legit- 
imate ends,  of  course!  And  so  I  say  to  young 
/^men:  Discover  all  the  chaps  you  can  who 
may  be  able  to  help  you.  Go  out  and  look  for 
them.  Before  they  can  be  of  any  use  to  you, 

Ve  got  to  discover  them." 
"  That 's  good  philosophy,"  agreed  Hop- 
kins ;  "  but,  as  I  Ve  told  you,  my  philosophy 
in  those  days  was  n't  full-grown.  I  might 
have  discovered  Green  and  made  him  both 
a  business  and  a  personal  friend.  But  even 
Fisher  had  worked  for  me  several  years  when 
I  discovered  him,  and  Green  I  had  n't  discov- 
ered at  all  until  too  late.  Neither  of  these 
men  had  been  giving  me  much  profit,  but  both 
had  the  capacity  for  doing  so.  All  that  was 


- 

as 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

lacking  was  a  little  intelligence  on  my  part 
and  the  incentive  on  theirs. 

"  Fisher  had  ideas  for  a  whole  line  of  office 
furniture  and  special  equipment,  and  some  of 
the  things  he  invented  put  Green's  product 
in  the  shade,  so  it  was  a  case  of  turn  about  Of 
course  Green  came  back  at  me  with  a  batch 
of  new  products  of  his  own;  but  at  all  events 
I  had  found  goods  that  did  n't  have  to  be  sold 
through  the  gentlemen  who  had  bottled  me  so 
long  and  kept  me  out  of  the  running.  I  or- 
ganized a  sales  department  and  Sam  Green 
did  the  same.  He,  too,  saw  the  folly  of  tying 
up  his  markets  in  one  channel. 

"  Fisher  was  the  first  of  my  workers  who 
really  returned  me  big  profits,  but  since  then 
I  Ve  made  a  specialty  of  spotting  the  excep- 
tionally valuable  men  and  leading  them  on. 
Once  I  got  the  hang  of  the  thing,  it  did  n't 
take  me  long  to  fire  old  Hank  Slosser  and 
Pete  Jorgan  and  Slim  Mike.  Booker  went 
with  them.  But  Fisher  got  a  rolltop  desk, 
though  he  did  n't  sit  at  it  much  of  the  time. 

"  I  won't  stand  for  any  bogus  mushrooms. 
But  don't  misunderstand  me  —  it 's  not  the 
last  pound  of  flesh  that  I  'm  after.  I  ask  no 

135 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

man  to  work  himself  to  death  for  me.  It 's 
skill  and  brains  that  I  want,  not  slavery.  I 
offer  the  gospel  of  hope  to  every  worker  who 
comes  into  my  plant. 

"  Some  men  find  their  niches  in  life  without 
being  directed;  most  men  don't.  One  of  my 
assistant  superintendents  is  a  fair  example. 
Twenty  years  ago  he  entered  my  factory  as  a 
raw  foreign  boy.  We  saw  his  inherent  ability 
along  a  certain  branch  of  our  work;  so  we 
picked  him  out  of  the  wrong  niche  and  put 
him  into  the  right  one.  We  gave  him  special 
training  both  in  the  factory  and  at  a  technical 
night  school,  and,  by  giving  him  the  incentive 
to  stay,  made  sure  that  he  would  n't  get  away 
from  us. 

"  Now  this  man,  if  left  to  himself,  probably 
would  have  remained  a  laborer  at  a  dollar  and 
a  half  a  day.  At  that  wage  he  would  have  re- 
turned me  perhaps  a  profit  of  twenty  cents  a 
day.  At  present  he  returns  me  a  profit  of  sev- 
eral thousand  dollars  a  year  through  his  daily 
work  and  the  inventions  we  have  helped  him 
to  originate.  Besides,  he  is  earning  a  man's 
wages  himself  and  is  getting  a  royalty  on  his 
patents.  It  is  a  fascinating  game  to  lead  men 

136 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

up  like  this,  and  it  pays.  Once  in  a  while  we 
strike  a  bonanza  lead. 

"  I  can  put  my  finger  on  manufacturers 
and  merchants  who  don't  do  this.  To  them 
twenty  dollars  a  week  as  a  wage  looks  as  big 
as  a  house.  They  'd  let  the  most  skillful  man 
go  rather  than  pay  him  twenty-two,  and  they 
never  see  in  the  five-dollar  apprentice  to-day 
the  five-thousand-dollar  executive  ten  years 
hence.  Yet  these  are  the  concerns  that  have 
the  Slim  Mikes.  They  are  running  poor- 
farms  without  knowing  it.  It  does  n't  make 
any  difference  how  much  you  pay  a  man  so 
long  as  he  returns  you  a  profit  on  that  wage. 

"  I  had  passed  the  first  crisis  in  my  career 
and  was  n't  really  looking  for  another,  when, 
a  year  or  two  later,  a  financial  disturbance 
swept  over  the  country,  forcing  my  plant  to 
shut  down  absolutely.  The  buying  public  had 
no  money  to  put  into  my  goods.  This  is  not 
equivalent  to  saying  that  the  public  had  no 
money  to  spend.  I  wish  to  emphasize  the 
distinction. 

"  Of  course  it  was  easy  to  cut  out  the  bulk 
of  the  payroll,  but  quite  impossible  to  stop 
paying  rent,  interest,  depreciation  on  machin- 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ery,  and  so  on.  Once  more  the  idle  equip- 
ment! And  now  came  the  advantage  of  our 
itemized  knowledge  of  operating  costs.  Al- 
though our  own  product  was  dead  for  the  time 
being,  we  were  able  to  get  a  lot  of  contract 
work  by  offering  to  do  it  at  just  what  it  cost  us. 
It  was  not  a  question  of  making  a  profit, 
merely  a  problem  of  keeping  even.  We  made 
a  lot  of  patent  picture-frames,  a  big  batch  of 
thermometer  standards,  a  novelty  line,  any- 
thing we  could  get  to  do.  The  quantity  of  con- 
tract stuff  we  turned  out  during  that  panic  was 
astonishing.  There  seemed  to  be  plenty  of 
money  that  was  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the 
cost-prices  we  offered.  This  fact  set  me  think- 
ing, and  not  very  long  afterward  something 
came  of  it." 

"  I  have  known  a  lot  of  manufacturers  and 
merchants  to  throw  up  their  hands  and  quit 
because  temporary  hard  times  drove  their  par- 
ticular products  into  a  hole,"  said  Barnes. 
"  Their  equipment  kept  handing  them  a  stag- 
gering loss  every  day,  and  they  could  n't  think 
of  any  way  to  keep  busy.  The  solution  of  this 
trouble  is  not  so  difficult  as  it  seems  to  the  man 
who  contemplates  jumping  into  the  river.  It 

138 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

is  sometimes  easier  to  commit  suicide  than  to 
think  up  a  plan  by  which  to  live." 

"  Since  that  first  panic  I  have  made  it  a 
policy  to  have  a  batch  of  understudy  prod- 
ucts," Hopkins  told  us.  "  It  is  amazing  what 
you  can  do  with  understudies  in  an  emer- 
gency. You  may  sneer  at  baked  beans  as  a 
steady  diet,  but  when  you  are  lost  in  the  woods 
with  nothing  else  to  eat  a  few  cans  may  keep 
you  from  starving. 

"  As  I  have  shown  you,  narrow  markets  may 
mean  ruin;  and  when  you  combine  narrow 
markets  with  a  narrow  product  you  place 
yourself  directly  at  the  mercy  of  every  passing 
gale.  I  know  a  manufacturing  concern  that 
makes  a  very  heavy  steel  product  as  its  main 
line,  but  for  an  understudy  product  has  a  line 
of  light  metal  goods  that  go  to  wholly  different 
markets.  During  the  last  financial  disturb- 
ance the  main  product  was  cut  off  absolutely; 
but  at  such  times  the  world  does  not  stop  run- 
ning. This  concern's  foundry  and  machine 
shops  were  kept  sufficiently  busy  on  the  secon- 
dary product  to  pay  the  fixed  expense  on  the 
whole  plant.  The  far-seeing  manufacturer  is 
working  out  the  game  on  this  basis. 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  The  shrewd  merchant,  too,  works  along 
this  plan.  Yet  only  the  other  day  I  met  a  dry- 
goods  man  over  at  the  club  who  complained 
that  his  store  was  costing  him  so  much  to  oper- 
ate that  he  was  running  behind.  Business,  he 
said,  was  rotten.  *  Why  don't  you  get  some  un- 
derstudy products?'  I  asked  him,  and  he 
looked  at  me  in  amazement.  He  'd  only  heard 
of  understudies  at  the  theaters. 

"  But  in  order  to  follow  out  the  understudy 
product  principle  a  merchant  must  pave  the 
way  with  sound  financing.  The  financing  of 
a  business  is  one  of  the  fundamentals,  and  be- 
fore I  tell  you  about  drygoods  understudies  I 
want  to  revert  to  Sam  Green.  The  problem 
of  financing  brought  me  to  another  crisis. 

"  Sam  Green's  company  and  my  own  had 
grown  away  from  mere  office  fixtures  as  a 
product  and  had  taken  up  a  line  of  factory 
equipment  that  had  broad  possibilities.  You 
gentlemen,  perhaps,  are  familiar  with  my 
present  goods  to  some  extent. 

"  Sam  was  fighting  me  with  an  army  of 
salesmen,  directed  by  captains  and  majors  and 
colonels  stationed  here  and  there  about  the 
country.  He  had  a  fine  selling  organization 

140 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

—  better  than  mine,  I  admit.  I  Ve  never  been 
quite  so  strong  on  selling  as  I  have  been  on 
manufacturing,  while  Sam  reversed  the  prop- 
osition. I  believed,  and  still  do  believe,  that 
selling  should  always  be  secondary  to  the  man- 
ufacturer. This  statement  may  seem  strange 
to  you ;  but  you  '11  see  in  a  few  minutes  that 
there  's  more  danger  of  overdoing  the  selling 
end  of  the  business  than  there  is  of  devoting 
undue  attention  to  your  goods.  However,  I 
had  a  fair  sales  organization  myself  and  we 
kept  after  Sam  rather  hard,  so  we  had  him  by 
the  coat-tail  most  of  the  time." 

"  Salesmanship  ceases  to  be  salesmanship 
without  goods  that  are  worth  selling,"  said 
Gale. 

This  seemed  like  an  odd  contradiction,  com- 
ing from  a  real-estate  broker.  True,  I  had 
never  given  much  thought  to  real  estate ;  but, 
like  most  people,  I  did  not  entertain  as  high 
a  regard  for  a  man  in  that  calling  as  for  men 
in  the  strictly  commercial  lines  of  business. 
I  had  a  half  impression  that  most  real-estate 
men,  if  not  actually  crooked,  got  uncomfort- 
ably close  to  the  edge.  No,  don't  misunder- 
stand me  —  I  am  merely  stating  the  impres- 

141 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

sion  I  had  at  that  time.  You  know  I  had  not 
heard  Gale's  story  then.  I  did  n't  suppose  that 
real-estate  men  ever  considered  the  question  of 
the  goods  they  were  selling  —  at  least,  not  in 
the  way  we  merchants  looked  at  goods.  No 
merchant  worthy  the  name  would  think  of  at- 
tempting to  fool  a  customer  on  the  quality  or 
value  of  the  article  sold;  but  I  assumed  that 
fooling  people  on  real  estate  was  considered 
part  of  the  broker's  business.  That  was  why 
Gale  surprised  me  when  he  broke  in  with  his 
comment  on  salesmanship. 

However,  Gale  said  no  more  just  then,  for 
Greenleaf,  who  certainly  represented  the  high- 
est ideals  of  salesmanship,  took  up  the  subject 
and  for  a  few  minutes  grew  vehement  over  it. 
He  agreed  thoroughly  with  Gale  that  sales- 
manship was  not  salesmanship  unless  the  goods 
were  absolutely  honest. 

Now  there  were  various  interesting  points 
brought  up  that  I  should  like  to  put  down  here 
if  it  were  not  for  delaying  Hopkins'  narrative 
unduly.  But  the  most  important,  I  think,  can 
be  voiced  in  the  words  of  Barnes  when  he 
said: 

"Your  ideals,  gentlemen,  are  high  and 
142 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

noble,  and  should  be  lived  up  to  as  nearly  as 
possible.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  there 
is  a  practical  side  to  business,  as  well  as  a  the- 
oretical side.  Now  a  salesman  must  often  go 
out  on  the  road  and  attempt  to  sell  goods 
which  he  knows  are  inferior  to  goods  repre- 
sented by  rival  salesmen.  This  salesman  must 
live,  gentlemen;  at  home  he  has  his  wife  and 
babies  to  support,  and  he  cannot,  in  the  very 
scheme  of  things,  toss  up  the  game  of  life  be- 
cause of  ethical  considerations.  He  must  go 
on  doing  the  thing  which  his  inner  conscience 
tells  him  is  not  on  a  plane  with  those  higher 
ideals  of  which  we  have  spoken.  We  get 
idealism  in  books  —  nowhere  else!  But  at 
the  same  time  he  must  not  succumb  to  con- 
ditions; he  must  fight  against  them.  He 
must  do  all  in  his  power  to  make  his  goods 
the  best,  or  to  represent  goods  that  he  knows 
to  be  the  best.  And  remember  that  when  we 
say  a  certain  article  is  the  best  on  the  market, 
it  is  a  good  deal  like  saying  that  a  certain 
woman  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all  women  in 
the  world.  These  things  are  often  matters 
of  opinion.  If  a  salesman  can  honestly  ad- 
vance points  of  superiority  for  his  goods,  he 

143 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

can  work  with  a  tolerably  clear  conscience, 
though  he  knows  that  rival  goods  also  have 
superior  talking  points." 

I  never  heard  the  case  put  more  succinctly 
than  Barnes  thus  put  it.  Until  people  grow 
wings,  no  man  can  be  theoretically  and  ideally 
honest.  He  can't  do  it  and  live.  But  he  can 
and  must  be  practically  honest. 

Hopkins  now  resumed.  "  The  capital 
stock  of  my  company  at  that  time,"  he  said, 
"  was  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  We  had 
put  up  a  number  of  additions  to  the  factory 
and  established  several  branch  plants.  All 
this  required  a  great  deal  of  money,  so  we 
increased  the  capital  twice  within  three  years 
—  first  to  three  hundred  thousand  and  then  to 
half  a  million  dollars. 

"  Meanwhile  my  plants  accumulated  an 
extraordinary  quantity  of  raw  material  and 
half-finished  stock.  Like  most  concerns,  we 
borrowed  from  the  banks  for  buying  pur- 
poses, and  sometimes  our  obligations  were 
very  large.  It  was  at  one  of  these  times  that 
we  suddenly  experienced  difficulty  in  meeting 
our  loans.  This  was  due  to  strategic  selling 
maneuvers  on  the  part  of  Sam  Green.  By 

144 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

landing  some  big  and  publicly  conspicuous 
contracts  that  we  'd  both  been  fighting  for,  he 
not  only  cut  a  lot  of  profitable  business  from 
under  us  but  gained  a  prestige  that  meant 
serious  future  damage.  It  looked  as  if  sales- 
manship, after  all,  were  the  chief  factor  in  the 
game  Sam  and  I  were  playing. 

"  It  was  a  fact  that  a  hungry  period  dawned 
on  our  horizon.  We  were  out  in  the  woods 
without  even  canned  beans  enough  to  go 
round.  All  our  plants  were  stocked  up  with 
stuff  we  could  not  sell  and  our  bank  loans  were 
falling  due.  We  had  overdone  the  financing; 
and  the  understudy  product  idea,  though  all 
right  of  itself,  was  not  powerful  enough  to 
offset  our  stress. 

"  We  held  an  emergency  meeting  of  direc- 
tors, and  most  of  them  clamored  for  another 
issue  of  stock.  l  Make  it  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,'  one  of  my  associates  urged. 
1  That  will  clear  up  our  obligations  and  ease 
off  the  strain.  We  're  big  enough  anyway  to 
carry  even  a  million  dollars  in  capital.  If 
we  're  going  to  fight  Sam  Green  we  Ve  got  to 
have  dead  loads  of  money.' 

"  Now  I  had  n't  slept  much  the  night  pre- 
145 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

vious.  Night  is  a  good  time  to  get  down  to 
fundamentals,  when  you  Ve  got  the  whole 
world  to  yourself  and  there  's  nobody  to  dis- 
turb you  except  the  milkman.  So  I  told  the 
directors  that  it  was  n't  more  money  we 
needed,  but  less  money.  We  were  intoxicated 
with  money.  There  are  more  business  mal- 
practices committed  in  the  name  of  capital 
than  there  are  crimes  that  get  into  court.  My 
concern  was  something  like  a  wagon  that 's 
overloaded.  The  wagon  may  be  able  to  hold 
the  load  and  the  mules  can  pull  it  as  long  as 
the  road  is  good;  but  when  it  gets  into  the 
mud  it  sticks  there.  It  needs  less  weight  on  the 
load  and  more  in  the  mules.  My  company,  in 
other  words,  had  too  much  money  tied  up  in 
real  estate,  equipment,  and  material ;  it  did  n't 
have  enough  cash  or  quick  assets  —  the  mules 
that  pull  a  business. 

"  You  '11  find  this  situation  very  common  in 
all  classes  of  business  houses  and  in  the  homes 
of  the  men  who  work  for  those  houses.  Most 
men  have  heaps  of  quick  liabilities,  but  their 
quick  assets  are  almost  nil.  That 's  why  so 
many  fellows  are  always  behind  the  game, 
paying  the  highest  prices  for  the  poorest  gro- 

146 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

ceries,  and  so  on.  It 's  the  worst  sort  of  finan- 
cing. Quick  assets  and  quick  liabilities  ought 
at  least  to  even  up ;  this  is  a  test  the  banks  often 
put  on  a  man.  Is  that  correct,  Mr.  Dowe?  " 

"  As  true  as  gospel,"  agreed  Dowe. 

"  I  therefore  proposed,"  said  Hopkins, 
"  that  we  sell  the  branch  factory  real  estate, 
concentrate  our  manufacturing  on  a  more 
modern  layout  and  get  down  to  sane  finance. 
This  plan  we  put  through,  but  not  in  a  hurry. 
The  banks  approved  the  conservative  trend 
in  our  management  and  gave  us  time  to  work 
it  out." 

"  The  way  to  get  around  the  banks,"  volun- 
teered Dowe,  "  is  to  have  a  sound  proposition." 

"Well,  we  began  to  build  up  a  sound  propo- 
sition. We  began  to  establish  a  reserve  fund 
—  not  a  surplus  to  put  back  into  the  business, 
but  a  separate  thing.  This  brings  me  back  to 
the  subject  of  understudy  products  for  a  dry- 
goods  house,  for  my  plan  was  copied  directly 
from  the  policy  of  successful  merchants  I 
knew. 

"  One  of  these  merchants  always  set  apart 
a  quarter  or  a  half  of  his  net  profits.  This 
money  he  invested  in  gilt-edged  bonds  and 

147 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

savings-bank  deposits,  and  the  fund  thus  cre- 
ated he  never  disturbed,  except  to  use  the 
securities  as  collateral  for  bank  loans  when  he 
saw  chances  to  make  big  extra  profits. 

"  During  a  dull  season,  for  instance,  he  saw 
a  chance  to  buy  a  stock  of  merchandise  at  fifty 
cents  on  the  dollar  for  cash.  He  took  his 
reserve  securities  to  his  bank,  put  them  up 
as  collateral  and  borrowed  a  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  With  this  money  he  bought 
goods  really  worth  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  —  many  of  them  quite  foreign  to  his 
legitimate  drygoods  line.  These  goods  were 
real  understudies,  playing  the  role  of  dry- 
goods  for  the  time  being.  This  merchant 
knew  that  people  had  to  live  in  hard  times  as 
well  as  in  good,  and  he  knew  —  as  I  had  dis- 
covered long  before  —  that  a  lot  of  people 
had  money  stowed  away  and  were  looking 
for  bargains  in  necessities  at  just  such  times 
of  depression.  So  when  his  store  equipment 
threatened  him  with  the  losses  that  come  from 
idleness  he  kept  it  working  with  his  under- 
study products.  He  had  the  store  building, 
the  fixtures,  the  elevators  —  all  the  facilities; 
he  made  them  work  at  a  profit  all  the  time. 

148 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

Perhaps  you  Ve  noticed  that  some  men  have 
this  mysterious  power  of  buying  up  bankrupt 
stocks  for  a  song;  and  that  other  men  have  an 
equal  facility  for  going  broke  whenever  the 
wind  shifts  to  the  north.  It  is  n't  chance  in 
either  case. 

"  Well,  I  built  up  a  comfortable  reserve 
fund  in  my  manufacturing  business  and  it 
grew  until  it  had  five  ciphers  attached  to  it. 
Then  we  were  often  able  to  make  money  in 
big  chunks  with  it.  We  were  now  using 
many  iron  and  steel  parts  in  our  factory  prod- 
uct, and  some  of  them  we  could  buy  more 
cheaply  than  we  could  make  them.  It  often 
happened  that  when  foundries  and  machine 
shops  were  slack  we  were  able  to  get  very  low 
prices  by  having  the  cash.  We  never  touched 
our  reserve  fund  directly,  but  followed  the 
plan  of  the  drygoods  man." 

"  I  Ve  been  hungry  for  real  money  myself," 
said  Barnes.  "  I  know  how  big  it  looks,  and 
I  know  that  it  often  looks  big  even  to  foun- 
dries and  machine  shops.  Real  money  is  the 
thing  that  talks  loudest  at  any  stage  of  the 
business  game;  or  the  personal  game,  either, 
for  that  matter.  The  man  who  has  money  in 

149 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

his  pocket  is  a  king,  and  the  business  man  with 
cash  to  spare  is  a  veritable  czar.  But  he  's  the 
sort  of  czar  who  does  n't  need  to  worry  over 
bombs.  Folks  want  him  to  live." 

"  Yes,"  said  Hopkins,  "  I  was  a  czar.  I 
always  knew  we  could  meet  the  loans  we  thus 
incurred,  or  renew  them  if  we  wished.  The 
man  who  knows  he  can  do  this  is  ahead  of 
the  game  every  time.  It  is  the  sort  of  finan- 
cing that  makes  an  old  man  young  and  not  a 
young  man  old. 

"  But  business  is  a  queer  game,  and  the 
man  who  thinks  he  has  mastered  all  its  artful 
dodges  frequently  goes  to  California  to  spend 
the  winter  or  up  into  the  north  woods  for  the 
summer.  When  he  gets  back  he  finds  that 
some  funny  kink  has  tied  his  affairs  into  a 
reef  knot.  I  never  went  away  for  more  than 
a  month  at  a  time,  and  then  I  kept  the  tele- 
graph wires  and  cables  pretty  lively.  I  al- 
ways had  a  long-distance  sight  on  Sam  Green. 

"  Of  course  when  a  man  gets  ready  to  retire 
it 's  different.  Then  he  can  shed  his  harness 
and  kick  up  his  heels  —  provided  he  's  got  his 
own  personal  reserve  salted  away  in  securities 
that  have  no  connection  with  his  business.  I 

150 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

know  a  nice  old  gentleman  who  retired  after 
forty  years  devoted  to  building  up  a  success- 
ful manufacturing  house.  But  the  trouble 
was  that  his  money  did  n't  retire  when  he  did; 
it  stayed  right  there  in  the  business  and  dwin- 
dled away.  What  was  left  blew  up  last  year 
in  a  puff  of  financial  vapor,  and  to-day  the 
old  gentleman  is  trying  to  get  a  fresh  start  at 
seventy. 

"  I  Ve  known  merchants  —  a  lot  of  them 
-who  boasted  that  they  were  making  heaps 
of  money  and  putting  it  all  back  into  their 
business.  Now  I  Ve  always  tried  to  look  the 
truth  in  the  face.  It 's  sometimes  agreeable 
to  hoodwink  yourself,  but  not  profitable. 
When  you  make  a  thousand  dollars  in  clean 
profit  and  put  that  thousand  dollars  back  on 
your  shelves  in  the  form  of  merchandise,  it 's 
a  sort  of  legerdemain  to  call  it  profit.  When 
you  go  away  for  your  four-months'  vacation 
something  happens  to  that  merchandise  — 
perhaps  your  store  takes  fire  and  your  insur- 
ance does  n't  cover  the  loss,  or  you  have  n't 
bought  wisely  and  can't  sell  the  stuff,  or  some- 
body invents  something  better  and  you  have 
to  sacrifice  at  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar. 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"Oh,  yes!  that  thousand  dollars  is  profit 
after  a  fashion.  I  know  all  the  arguments. 
Yet  when  you  get  right  down  to  the  naked 
truth  it  is  n't  profit.  In  order  to  make  it  ac- 
tual profit  you  Ve  got  to  get  it  out  of  the  busi- 
ness absolutely  and  into  something  as  safe  as 
a  government  bond." 

"  Business  is  a  tolerably  sure  game  when  it 
is  played  by  the  man  who  knows,"  cut  in 
Barnes  again.  "  But  let  that  man  be  laid  up 
for  six  or  eight  months  with  typhoid;  who  's 
going  to  play  it  then?  On  the  other  hand,  a 
government  bond  will  work  for  you  whether 
you  're  off  on  a  vacation  or  sick  in  bed." 

"  Not  that  I  advocate  taking  all  your  profit 
out  of  your  business,"  Hopkins  qualified. 
"  No,  indeed !  If  I  'd  done  that  I  never  would 
have  grown  and  got  rich.  But  get  out  a  part 
of  it  as  you  grow;  that 's  the  part  you  can  hon- 
estly call  profit. 

"  I  want  to  say  a  few  words  more  about  Sam 
Green,  and  that  brings  me  to  still  another 
crisis.  These  crises  keep  coming;  I  expect 
them  now.  It 's  a  pleasure  to  take  off  my  hat 
to  them,  shake  hands  with  them  and  then 
throw  them  out  of  the  window. 

152 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

"  Sam  Green  went  to  Europe,  intending  to 
be  gone  only  a  few  weeks,  but  when  they  got 
over  there  he  and  his  wife  decided  to  go  on 
round  the  world  and  have  a  year  or  two  of 
travel  and  leisure.  It  was  a  most  natural 
thing  that  Green's  business  should  begin  to 
sag  as  soon  as  he  was  far  enough  away  so  that 
cable  tolls  began  to  cost  two  or  three  dollars 
a  word.  Green  had  always  been  the  one  per- 
sonality in  his  concern.  Of  course  he  had  a 
lot  of  able  men  under  him,  but  there  was  no- 
body who  approached  him  in  power  and  vir- 
ility. This  was  a  weak  point  in  his  manage- 
ment. I  had  seen  it  all  along  and  felt  sure  that 
something  would  come  of  it.  It 's  all  right  for 
the  head  of  a  concern  to  be  the  top  in  reality, 
but  he  does  n't  want  to  be  a  mountain-peak 
among  a  collection  of  sand-dunes.  That's 
what  Sam  was.  He  developed  his  executives 
just  so  far,  and  there  he  held  them.  He  got  a 
profit  from  them,  but  not  the  full  profit.  His 
was  thesort  of  business  thatbegins  to  slide  down- 
hill the  minute  the  spotlight  upon  it  goes  out. 

"  What  happened  was  bound  to  happen  any- 
way; only  if  Sam  had  been  home  the  thing 
we  did  would  have  been  harder  to  put  over. 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

There  had  been  forces  at  work  in  my  own  or- 
ganization for  a  long  time  that  meant  a  revo- 
lution which  nothing  could  stop.  Sam  might 
have  taken  advantage  of  it  if  he  'd  had  the 
right  sort  of  organization.  In  a  word,  we  had 
been  at  work  secretly  on  inventions  and  new 
ideas  designed  to  put  both  Green's  product 
and  our  own  into  oblivion.  We  were  con- 
vinced that  times  were  ripe  for  the  burial  of 
old  methods  and  mechanisms.  My  ablest  ex- 
ecutives had  studied  conditions  with  the  keen- 
est analysis.  You  remember  how  it  was  with 
typewriters.  Of  course  my  house  did  n't  make 
any  typewriters,  but  the  situation  in  our  line 
was  very  similar.  Everybody  knows  that  a  few 
years  ago  there  was  n't  a  visible  typewriter  on 
the  market.  Then  somebody  conceived  the 
idea  that  the  times  were  ripe  for  a  machine 
that  had  visible  print  To-day  the  old  product 
is  being  steadily  superseded  by  the  new. 

"  Well,  we  did  just  that  thing  to  Sam  Green. 
It  was  bound  to  come,  either  from  Green  or 
from  us.  Now  these  revolutions  in  product 
are  not  so  much  matters  of  mere  mechanical 
skill  and  inventive  genius  as  they  are  matters 
of  viewpoint.  Sam  did  n't  have  that  view- 

154 


MANUFACTURER'S    STORY 

point;  his  organization  didn't  have  it.  His 
concern  was  n't  broad  enough,  or  daring 
enough,  or  imaginative  enough,  to  put  behind 
it  every  tradition  and  strike  out  into  the  un- 
known. He  had  no  Edisons  among  his  execu- 
tives; I  had  a  whole  group  of  them  among 
mine.  An  Edison  will  not  work  for  a  man  who 
holds  him  down  to  a  sand-dune.  I  am  only 
too  anxious  to  concede  that  these  men,  rather 
than  I  myself,  saw  the  signs  of  the  times. 
They  convinced  me.  It  has  always  been  my 
organization  that  has  done  the  big  things  in 
my  business.  My  own  part  has  chiefly  been  to 
develop  that  organization  and  hold  it  together. 
"  We  had  n't  intended  to  spring  the  thing 
for  a  year  or  two,  but  while  Green  was  in 
India  we  let  it  go.  We  got  our  first  patents 
and  started  the  ball  rolling.  For  a  long  time 
we  had  been  drawing  in  on  our  old  stuff,  while 
Sam  had  been  expanding  under  the  belief  that 
he  had  us  hoodooed.  Sam  did  n't  come  home 
for  six  months,  although  of  course  he  got  wind 
of  the  thing.  It  was  reasonable  that  he 
should  n't  get  the  viewpoint  way  off  there  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world  when  he  had  n't 
seen  the  indications  while  he  was  at  home." 

155 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  If  his  organization  had  been  paying  one 
hundred  per  cent,"  said  Barnes,  "  his  men 
would  have  made  him  see  the  situation  and 
got  him  home  in  a  hurry." 

"  They  were  away  below  one  hundred  per 
cent,"  returned  Hopkins.  "  So  Sam  merely 
sneered  by  cable,  and  his  concern  sneered  in 
person  and  went  on  turning  out  vast  quanti- 
ties of  the  old  product.  You  Ve  seen  that 
happen  before  and  since.  You  remember 
plenty  of  folks  who  said  the  visible  typewriter 
was  only  a  fad.  Give  them  the  good  old  ma- 
chine that  would  stand  up  under  real  use! 
In  the  end  Sam  Green's  concern  went  to  the 
wall. 

"  There  's  only  one  thing  more  I  'd  like  to 
say,  and  in  a  way  it's  most  important  of  all: 
The  chief  underlying  element  in  business  — 
deeper  than  any  of  the  principles  I  Ve  spoken 
of  —  is  the  truth  that  the  goods  put  out  by  a 
permanently  successful  house  must  be  of  real 
benefit  to  mankind.  Sam  Green  went  under 
because  his  goods  ceased  to  be  a  benefit.  My 
business  lived  because  we  kept  abreast  of  the 
world's  progress  and  saw  that  our  products 
must  adjust  themselves  to  the  generations." 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  FREIGHT  WRECK 

HOPKINS  had  n't  much  more  than  fin- 
ished his  story  when  the  Limited  came 
upon  a  freight  wreck,  and  had  to  wait 
there  for  several  hours.  One  of  the  wheels  of 
a  freight  car  had  broken  and  thrown  the  train 
off  the  track  on  a  steep  down-grade,  and  there 
the  heap  of  wreckage  lay,  blocking  our  way. 
Here,  again,  the  organization  prevented  our 
running  into  it;  but  I  had  n't  much  time  just 
then  to  draw  analogies,  for  something  of  con- 
siderable consequence  took  place.  I  use  the 
word  "  consequence "  in  a  strictly  personal 
sense,  and  perhaps  I  should  not  take  the  time 
of  my  readers  to  tell  my  private  affairs.  Still, 
since  business  and  romance  are  sadly  tangled 
anyhow,  I  trust  you  will  bear  with  me.  And 
then  I  take  it  that  you  are  to  some  degree  in- 
terested in  Dorothy  Dowe. 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

The  young  lady  was  standing,  with  her 
father,  on  the  track  just  ahead  of  our  loco- 
motive, watching  the  wrecking-crew  at  work 
on  the  fragments  of  freight  cars.  I  think  she 
wore  a  fur  coat  of  some  sort,  though  on  that 
score  I  '11  not  be  certain.  I  do  remember, 
however,  that  her  hat  was  trimmed  with  sable, 
and  I  wondered  if  she  had  bought  it  in  the 
millinery  department  of  Munn,  Moorehouse 
&  Gaylord.  I  knew  we  'd  had  a  number  of 
hats  something  like  it  —  and  they  were  costly 
hats,  too.  However,  I  concluded  that  Miss 
Dowe  probably  patronized  the  more  exclu- 
sive establishments  of  Fifth  Avenue. 

I  was  thinking  things  of  this  sort  when  I 
suddenly  caught  Dorothy  looking  at  me.  It 
was  the  first  time  I  'd  surprised  her  in  a  lapse 
of  this  sort,  and  the  instant  our  eyes  met  I  saw 
the  color  come  into  her  face.  I  don't  know 
why  it  should,  but  it  did.  She  turned  her 
brown  eyes  away  instantly.  Then  an  inspira- 
tion came  to  me. 

Now  I  'm  not  going  to  burden  this  book 
with  any  conversations  whatever  that  took 
place  between  myself  and  Dorothy  Dowe, 
so  if  you  fear  the  tale  is  to  run  into  a  love 

158 


A    FREIGHT    WRECK 

story,  you  are  mistaken.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  you  find  just  a  suggestion  of  a  romance,  I 
hope  you  will  think  it  a  pleasing  one,  regard- 
less of  the  outcome. 

As  I  say,  I  '11  not  repeat  conversations.  But 
I  asked  the  young  lady  if  she  would  n't  like 
to  go  around  to  the  other  side  of  the  wreck, 
where  we  'd  have  a  better  vantage-point  to 
view  operations.  Thoughts  of  Van  Dyke  had 
been  worrying  me,  and  this  impulse  was  the 
logical  outcome.  I  cared  nothing  about  get- 
ting any  vantage-point  as  to  the  train  wreck; 
it  was  a  vantage  over  Van  Dyke  that  I  wanted. 

I  confess  I  was  surprised  when  Dorothy 
took  my  arm.  Gladly  would  I  have  given  a 
thousand  dollars  to  charity  could  Van  Dyke 
have  been  there  to  see  us. 

Once  on  the  other  side  of  the  wreck,  Dor- 
othy and  I  found  a  new  and  even  more  excit- 
ing adventure.  One  of  the  mammoth  rotary 
snow-plows  was  there,  and  I  begged  permis- 
sion to  take  the  young  lady  upon  it.  Half  a 
dozen  others  followed  us.  Then  we  discov- 
ered the  thing  in  motion,  and  we  all  decided 
to  stay  —  since  the  men  in  charge  were  good 
enough  to  permit  us  —  and  enjoy  one  of  the 

159 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

most  terrific  contests  with  nature  I  'd  ever 
seen. 

The  rotary  was  clearing  the  snow  from  a 
switchback  that  ran  up  into  the  mountains 
just  beyond  the  point  where  the  wreck  had 
occurred.  The  track  was  covered  ten  feet 
deep  with  the  drift,  and  the  monster  machine 
simply  had  to  eat  its  way  through.  We  were 
literally  the  center  of  a  cataclysm  so  tremen- 
dous that  Dorothy  grew  pale  and  feared  we  'd 
never  get  back  to  the  Pullman. 

And  then,  somehow  or  other,  we  fell  to 
talking  about  business,  and  of  this  problem, 
success,  that  had  interested  me  so  much  on  the 
train.  I  remarked  that  if  men  were  to  attack 
their  difficulties  with  half  the  skill  and  intent 
shown  by  this  rotary,  the  snowdrifts  would 
disappear  and  the  business  track  be  left  clear 
and  clean. 

This,  she  agreed,  was  an  inspiring  way  of 
looking  at  it.  She  knew  so  little,  she  added, 
about  business  troubles  —  or  troubles  of  any 
sort.  Her  father  had  looked  after  all  that, 
and  taken  all  the  burdens  on  his  own  shoul- 
ders. But  she  liked  men  who  could  fight,  and 
she  had  been  admiring  our  group  of  seven  in 

1 60 


A    FREIGHT    WRECK 

the  smoker,  and  had  wished  she  might  hear 
some  of  those  fighting-tales  we  were  telling. 

There  was  a  fierce  exultation  inside  me 
when  she  spoke  thus.  She  had  no  praise  now 
for  Van  Dyke  and  his  fine  but  useless  educa- 
tion. Of  course  I  took  the  responsibility  right 
there  of  inviting  her  that  evening  to  hear  the 
story  Barnes  was  to  tell  us.  I  assured  her  that 
we  'd  forego  our  tobacco  gladly  if  she  would 
come.  Her  father,  of  course,  would  be  there. 

I  remember  how  her  eyes  lighted  as  she 
accepted  promptly,  and  never  even  hinted 
that  she  had  a  thought  for  Van  Dyke.  Then 
I  told  her  a  little  about  Barnes  —  what  little 
I  knew  at  the  time  —  and  perhaps  she  got  a 
new  viewpoint  on  this  war  we  call  business. 
At  all  events,  she  listened  attentively,  and 
finally  said  that  men  like  Barnes  were  the  sort 
women  liked.  Her  father,  too,  was  a  business 
general,  she  added;  and  she  hoped  I'd  get 
better  acquainted  with  him.  She  was  sure  he 
had  done  things  just  as  wonderful  as  those 
Barnes  had  achieved. 

There  was  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  about 
it,  I  assured  her.  Banker  Dowe  had  told  us 
a  few  of  the  things  —  among  others  the  story 

161 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

of  his  romance.  The  way  he  had  outgen- 
eraled that  drygoods  chap  and  carried  off 
Dorothy's  mother,  I  opined,  made  a  fellow 
feel  like  doing  heroic  things  himself! 

She  had  n't  much  to  say  for  a  time  after 
that,  but  sat  watching,  through  the  windows, 
the  artificial  snowstorm  that  was  raging  about 
us.  I  feared  I  had  offended  her,  and  talked 
volubly  about  everything  I  could  think  of 
except  romance. 

Well,  we  got  through  the  drift  in  half  an 
hour,  and  then  the  rotary  took  us  back  to  the 
main  line,  where  we  found  Dorothy's  father 
and  mother  much  worried  about  us.  Once  on 
the  Pullman,  we  found  a  good  deal  of  pleas- 
ure in  relating  how  the  rotary  snow-plow  had 
run  away  with  us.  Dorothy's  narrative  actu- 
ally had  quite  a  business  twist  when  she  re- 
marked, with  a  mischievous  glance  at  me,  that 
she  supposed  the  machine  never  would  have 
got  back  with  us  except  for  "  organization." 
She  put  the  accent  heavily  upon  the  word. 

The  freight  wreck  was  cleared  away  at  last 
and  the  Limited  proceeded  on  its  way.  After 
dinner  that  evening  I  went  to  the  observation- 
smoker  to  await  the  story  Barnes  was  to  tell. 

162 


A    FREIGHT    WRECK 

As  I  chanced  to  be  the  first  of  our  party  to 
get  there,  I  fell  into  a  brown  study,  during 
which  Van  Dyke's  image  appeared.  Con- 
found that  chap !  he  'd  got  into  the  habit  of 
trailing  me  around  and  talking  to  me  when  I 
was  alone. 

I  am  very  sure  that  I  should  n't  have  quar- 
reled with  him  had  he  been  there  in  person, 
but  I  could  n't  help  quarreling  with  his  astral 
likeness.  "  I  '11  give  you  to  understand,"  said 
he,  "  that  I  '11  not  have  you  stealing  Miss 
Dorothy  Dowe  away  from  me !  I  cannot  fight 
you  here,  sir,  but  once  on  the  coast  you  '11  have 
to  settle!" 

"Very  well,"  said  I;  "  on  either  coast,  as 
you  prefer.  Will  you  please  stand  aside  and 
let  me  pass?  " 

"  Not  until  I  have  said  what  I  intend,"  he 
retorted,  and  I  could  see  his  eyes  snap  as 
plainly  as  if  he  had  really  been  there  in  that 
empty  chair  before  me.  "  I  want  you  to 
know,"  he  added,  "  that  Miss  Dowe  is,  to  all 
intents,  engaged  to  me.  I  '11  not  have  any 
interference! " 

At  this  I  looked  him  firmly  in  the  face. 
Laugh  if  you  please,  but  I  imagine  you  have 

163 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

carried  on  affairs  of  this  sort  yourself  when 
the  person  you  addressed  mentally  was  thou- 
sands of  miles  away.  As  I  say,  I  looked  him 
in  the  face  squarely. 

"  Van  Dyke,"  said  I,  "  if  you  wish  to  win 
the  true  regard  of  a  woman,  you  must  do  it 
by  deeds  that  count  in  the  world.  Stand 
aside!" 

I  don't  pretend  to  say  what  he  would  have 
done  had  he  been  there  in  the  flesh,  but  his 
image  immediately  quit  me.  In  its  place  I 
saw  Miss  Dorothy  herself.  I  arose  in  some 
confusion  as  I  beheld  the  girl  and  her  father, 
for  it  really  seemed  as  if  they  must  have 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Van  Dyke  as  he  made  his 
escape. 

But  Miss  Dowe  merely  offered  me  a  penny 
for  my  thoughts.  My  face,  she  hinted,  was 
so  savage  that  it  reminded  her  of  a  rotary 
snow-plow  about  to  charge  a  snowdrift. 


164 


CHAPTER  VIII 

INNER  SECRETS  OF  A  MERCHANT'S  RISE 

"  A  T  the  age  of  eighteen,"  began  Barnes, 
7\  "  I  was  a  clerk  in  a  hardware  store 
about  two  hundred  miles  from  the 
city  of  New  York.  I  'd  never  had  much 
schooling,  for  my  people  were  poor  and  there 
was  a  large  family  of  us.  Years  before,  my 
father  had  started  a  shoe  store  in  our  little 
town;  but  his  creditors  had  got  him  quickly. 
After  that,  he  gave  up  and  never  tackled  busi- 
ness again.  Fate  had  marked  him  for  failure, 
he  declared,  and  there  was  no  use  bucking 
Fate.  So  he  worked  in  a  lumber  yard  until 
a  sunstroke  killed  him  one  day." 

The  Overland  Limited  was  swinging 
around  a  curve  just  then,  and  the  seven  of 
us,  and  Dorothy,  too,  gripped  our  chairs  as 
we  felt  the  lurch.  The  observation-smoker 
had  few  passengers  in  it  aside  from  our  party, 

165 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

and  we  had  dragged  our  comfortable  seats 
rather  close  to  each  other,  without  much  re- 
gard for  the  aisle.  Ours  was  the  last  car  on 
the  train,  anyway,  and  just  now  nobody  wanted 
to  get  out  on  the  wide  platform  back  of  us. 
It  was  more  agreeable  there  inside  the  train ; 
the  hurricane  that  swept  all  around  us  was 
fairly  blinding.  Occasionally,  when  the  fire- 
man of  the  locomotive  threw  open  his  furnace, 
the  lurid  glow  lit  up  the  darkness  and  showed 
me  —  when  I  shaded  my  eyes  against  the  win- 
dow—  a  scene  of  weird  beauty.  Even  as  I 
listened  to  Barnes,  I  marveled  at  the  stern 
nerve  of  the  engineer  who  was  plunging  us 
along  through  the  night's  fury. 

"  My  father,"  Barnes  went  on,  "  was  like 
Hopkins'  father,  and  like  a  thousand  men  I  Ve 
known  myself.  He  had  within  him  the  ability 
to  win  a  greater  success,  but  he  'd  never  been 
trained  in  the  art  of  planning  success.  You 
know  men  can't  jump  to  achievement,  unless 
they  happen  to  gamble  and  win.  They  Ve 
got  to  climb  up  after  the  fashion  of  a  lineman 
in  climbing  a  telegraph  pole.  They  must  have 
their  straps  and  spurs  on ;  then  sometimes  they 
can  go  up  fast.  My  father  never  provided 

166 


INNER    SECRETS 

himself  with  any  climbing  paraphernalia. 
He  tried  to  shin  up  the  telegraph  pole,  so  he 
never  got  much  above  the  butt." 

"  He  had  n't  discovered  that  spurs  and 
straps  were  necessary,"  observed  Hopkins, 
leaning  back.  The  train  had  struck  a  straight 
track  again.  "  Permit  me  to  use  your  own 
simile,  Mr.  Barnes.  If  more  men  would 
equip  themselves  with  climbing  devices, 
there  'd  be  fewer  men  like  your  father  hand- 
ling boards  in  the  lumber  yards." 

"  Yes,  you  are  right,  sir."  Barnes'  eyes  were 
thoughtful.  "  The  world  is  full  of  men  who 
are  blistering  their  hands  because  they  don't 
know  the  powers  that  are  asleep  inside  their 
heads.  As  for  me,  I  'd  rather  die  of  brain  fag 
than  sunstroke.  Well,  I  went  to  work  when 
I  was  twelve,  and  dubbed  around  at  odd  jobs 
until  I  struck  that  hardware  store.  Perhaps 
it  was  fate  that  led  me  there;  but  somehow, 
gentlemen,  I  don't  believe  much  in  fate. 
Other  boys  had  worked  in  that  very  same 
store,  but  the  world  has  n't  heard  from  them. 
But  call  it  fate  if  you  will.  To  a  certain  ex- 
tent circumstances  lead  men  into  given  lines 
of  mental  effort;  but  if  a  man  has  acquired  the 

167 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

original  impulse  he  can  usually  lead  the  cir- 
cumstances. The  best  way  to  help  young  men 
is  to  give  them  the  impulse  and  thus  induce 
them  to  work  out  the  chain  of  endeavor. 

"  With  me,  the  impulse  came  from  a  very 
simple  and  commonplace  thing.  As  a  clerk 
in  that  little  hardware  store,  I  had  idled  away 
an  hour  one  dull  summer  day  in  building  a 
miniature  fort  in  the  show-window.  I  used  a 
piece  of  sheet  iron,  through  which  I  punched 
holes  for  the  cannon;  these  latter  I  impro- 
vised out  of  tin.  Ahl  you  see  where  imagina- 
tion may  be  of  value  to  business! 

"  I  built  the  fort  primarily  for  my  own 
amusement,  but  by  the  time  it  was  finished  I 
had  quite  an  audience  watching  me  from  the 
outside.  Then  it  was  that  the  inspiration 
flashed  through  my  brain  that  was  really  the 
beginning  of  my  successful  career.  Since 
these  people  were  there  watching  me,  I  rea- 
soned, why  not  show  them  something  they 
might  want  to  buy?  " 

"  Inspirations  are  curious  things,"  spoke  up 
Greenleaf.  "  Once  in  a  great  while  one  of 
them  hits  a  man  when  he  is  n't  expecting  it  — 
as  it  did  in  your  case.  But  the  inspirations 

168 


INNER    SECRETS 

that  count  most  in  life  are  those  that  we  fish 
for  and  are  trained  to  seize  upon." 

"  I  Ve  been  fishing  ever  since  —  continu- 
ally," agreed  Barnes.  "  As  I  was  saying,  I 
set  out  to  show  those  people  some  attractive 
bits  of  our  hardware  stock.  I  built  a  warship, 
using  in  its  construction  a  hundred  articles, 
from  jack-knives  to  stovepipe.  Then  one  day 
I  contrived  a  threshing  machine  in  the  win- 
dow, and  the  next  week  a  locomotive. 

"  By  this  time  my  unique  window  displays 
had  caused  a  lot  of  comment  in  town,  and  our 
trade  had  improved  perceptibly.  So  now  I 
started  my  locomotive  on  a  more  elaborate 
scale  than  I  had  attempted  in  the  previous 
exhibits.  It  was  about  six  feet  long,  taking  up 
pretty  much  the  whole  window.  I  worked 
from  a  photograph  I  had  taken  one  Sunday. 
I  used  a  concealed  framework  of  wood,  into 
which  I  fashioned  many  kinds  of  cutlery, 
cooking  utensils,  and  general  hardware.  At 
best,  the  thing  was  a  grotesque  locomotive,  but 
it  had  the  general  outlines;  and,  what  was 
more  important,  it  drew  the  biggest  crowds 
ever  seen  round  a  show  window  in  our  town. 
Everybody  was  talking  about  Smith  Brothers' 

169 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

locomotive,  and  even  the  farmers  for  miles 
about  came  in  to  see  it." 

"  The  best  advertising,"  commented  Green- 
leaf,  "  is  the  sort  that  gets  people  coming  in 
spite  of  themselves.  In  my  own  career  as  a 
salesman  I  've  invented  many  a  scheme  that 
got  people  by  the  throat  and  marched  them 
down  to  spend  their  money.  Pardon  me,  Mr. 
Barnes,  for  interrupting  you." 

"  Incidentally,"  Barnes  resumed,  "  I  re- 
ceived some  publicity  myself.  Our  local 
newspaper  came  out  with  an  item  something 
like  this:  '  Our  young  friend,  Buddie  Barnes, 
has  begun  work  on  a  locomotive  in  the  win- 
dow of  our  enterprising  friends,  Smith 
Brothers,  and  half  the  town  is  watching  him. 
Unfortunately  Buddie  can  work  on  it  only 
during  his  spare  hours;  and,  since  the  Smiths 
are  busy  folks,  the  engine  is  growing  slowly. 
Buddie  says  he  hopes  to  finish  it  in  about  two 
weeks.  We  are  proud  to  have  such  an  enter- 
prising boy  in  our  midst.  Some  day  he  will 
be  a  great  architect  or  engineer.' 

"  Of  course  the  prediction  was  wrong," 
Barnes  went  on.  "  I  am  not  a  professional 
man,  as  professional  men  are  commonly 

170 


INNER    SECRETS 

known.  But  I  hold  that  more  men  would  be 
successful  if  they  considered  success  itself  a 
profession.  It 's  the  biggest  profession  of 
all." 

"The  one  that  holds  untold  possibilities!" 
exclaimed  Hopkins,  with  enthusiasm,  taking 
his  cigar  from  his  teeth.  "  The  architect  and 
the  engineer  have  limitations,  but  success  has 


none." 


"  One  day,  when  I  was  putting  the  finishing 
touches  on  my  locomotive,"  Barnes  continued, 
"  a  man  whom  I  did  not  know  came  into  the 
store.  Since  I  was  personally  acquainted 
with  every  individual  in  town,  I  knew  this 
man  to  be  a  stranger.  I  was  a  good  deal  sur- 
prised, then,  when  he  came  directly  to  me. 

"  *  Are  you  Buddie  Barnes?'  he  asked, 
bluntly. 

"  '  Yes,'  said  I ;  '  at  least,  folks  call  me  that. 
My  real  name  is  Charles,  sir.' 

"  I  saw  him  scowl.  1 1  like  the  nickname 
better,'  he  said.  l  It 's  out  of  the  common-run, 
like  yourself.  I  can  pick  up  a  Charles 
any  day,  but  Buddies  are  n't  so  plentiful. 
Where  'd  you  get  your  idea  for  that  engine?  ' 

"  <  Why,  I  got  it  out  of  my  imagination,  I 
171 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

suppose,'  said  I,  a  little  suspicious.     l  Don't 
you  like  it,  sir?  ' 

"'Yes,  of  course,'  said  he;  '  if  I  hadn't 
liked  it  I  would  n't  have  bothered  coming  in 
here.  Do  you  think  you  could  get  more  ideas 
of  that  sort?  Your  imagination  is  excellent 
—  it 's  a  fine  trait  sometimes,  and  a  rare  one.' 

"  There  was  a  big  crowd  outside  the  win- 
dow watching  us.  Unlike  some  window- 
trimmers,  I  worked  in  the  open.  I  was  doing 
the  thing  to  attract  attention,  so  why  hide  be- 
hind a  curtain?  Half  our  town  seemed  to  be 
fascinated  in  watching  that  clumsy  contriv- 
ance grow  day  by  day. 

"  '  Well,'  I  told  him,  '  I  rather  think  this 
is  n't  the  last,  by  any  means.  Look  at  those 
people  out  there!  So  long  as  I  can  draw  the 
crowds,  I  imagine  I  '11  keep  on  digging  up 
ideas.'  Then  I  told  him  about  the  warship 
and  fort  and  threshing  machine. 

"  '  How  much  wages  are  you  getting  for  all 
this? '  he  asked. 

"  I  was  n't  quite  sure  I  ought  to  tell  him, 
but  finally  I  confessed  that  Smith  Brothers 
allowed  me  five  dollars  a  week,  but  generously 
promised  me  six  after  New  Year's. 

172 


INNER    SECRETS 

"  '  Well,'  he  said,  *  I  '11  give  you  ten  dollars 
a  week  if  you  '11  work  for  me  in  Blankville. 
I  run  a  hardware  store  over  there,  you  see. 
And  let  me  tell  you,  boy,  if  you  make  good  on 
imagination  there  's  practically  no  limit  to  the 
money  you  can  earn  in  time.  What  we  men  in 
business  want  is  chaps  who  can  get  the  trade  for 
us,  and  wages  don't  count  if  you  show  results.' 

"  I  was  staggered.  That  night  I  put  the 
proposition  before  my  mother,  and  she  con- 
sented reluctantly  to  my  going  to  Blankville,  a 
city  of  a  hundred  thousand  people  forty  miles 
away. 

"  So  here  I  made  my  first  upward  step ;  and 
luckily  I  had  an  employer  who  gave  me  to 
understand  very  clearly  how  it  had  come 
about.  It  was  n't  merely  a  boy  he  wanted.  He 
could  get  plenty  of  husky  eighteen-year-old 
youths  in  his  own  city.  There  were  thousands 
of  them  who  could  sweep  the  store  and  handle 
stoves,  and  even  sell  goods  over  the  counter; 
but  somehow  —  it  seemed  very  strange  to  me 
—  there  was  a  scarcity  of  boys  and  men  who 
had  an  imagination  and  the  ideas  that  go  with 
it.  In  all  the  history  of  this  Blankville  hard- 
ware store,  nobody  connected  with  it  had  ever 

173 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

drawn  the  crowds  in  the  way  I  had  drawn 
them  for  months  to  Smith  Brothers'  little 
store. 

"  I  think  the  events  I  have  so  far  narrated 
were  the  most  vitally  formative  of  anything 
that  ever  happened  to  me.  They  gave  me,  at 
the  beginning  of  my  career,  the  key  to  success. 
The  ordinary  hardware  clerk,  I  perceived, 
worked  merely  with  his  hands;  I  had  been 
working  with  both  hands  and  brain.  And, 
now  that  I  had  the  principle  of  the  thing 
brought  home  to  me  by  the  episode  of  the  loco- 
motive, I  set  to  work  to  think  out  ways  by 
which  I  could  get  the  people  to  trade  at  our 
store.  That,  I  realized,  was  what  I  had  been 
hired  for;  and  my  fabulous  salary  of  ten  dol- 
lars a  week  spurred  me  on.  I  simply  had  to 
make  good ! 

"  That  very  first  day  I  got  hold  of  an  inspi- 
ration. If  I  had  n't  been  fishing  for  inspira- 
tions, it  would  n't  have  come  to  me."  Barnes 
made  a  salute  to  Greenleaf  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  apt  metaphor  the  latter  had 
voiced.  "  This  inspiration,"  he  went  on,  "  was 
in  reality  nothing  much.  Of  itself,  it  was 
rather  primitive;  almost  anybody  might  have 

174 


INNER    SECRETS 

thought  of  it.  But  it  led  to  extraordinary 
things. 

"  The  way  it  came  about  was  this :  I  'd  been 
up  to  my  boarding-house  on  that  first  day  in 
Blankville,  for  dinner.  On  my  return  I  made 
the  embarrassing  mistake  of  getting  into  the 
wrong  hardware  store  —  there  were  two  of 
them  in  our  block.  Of  course  I  got  out  in  a 
hurry,  but  not  before  the  fellows  there  had  the 
laugh  on  me.  They  knew  me  because  they  'd 
seen  me  sweeping  off  the  sidewalk  that  morn- 
ing. Now  my  blunder  set  me  to  thinking. 
Those  two  hardware  stores  were  practically 
just  alike  in  outward  appearance.  Indeed,  all 
the  stores  on  the  street  were  pretty  much  alike. 

"  I  'd  been  hired  chiefly  because  of  my 
ability  to  trim  windows,  but  already  I  was 
outgrowing  my  job.  I  asked  my  employer 
why  he  did  n't  do  something  to  make  his  store 
front  different  —  so  different  that  customers 
could  spot  it  at  a  distance  and  remember  it. 

"  This  obvious  scheme  struck  him  as  unique. 
Like  most  business  men,  he  had  n't  even 
thought  of  making  himself  distinctive.  He 
said  he  would  get  a  painter  at  once  and  change 
the  color  to  red. 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  l  Why  don't  you  paint  it  black?  '  I  asked. 
*  Black  is  the  natural  hardware  color;  and, 
besides,  it 's  a  color  that  is  n't  likely  to  be  imi- 
tated. If  I  were  you  I  'd  paint  it  the  blackest 
black  I  could  get.' 

"  He  demurred  at  first,  declaring  that  black 
was  a  funereal  color,  but  finally  he  decided 
that  even  a  brisk  funeral  was  better  than  some 
live  folks  he  knew.  Black  it  was  thereafter, 
and  the  effect  was  absolutely  startling! 
Among  those  cold  drab  fronts  that  lined  the 
street  our  store  stood  out  in  somber  gravity, 
but  unmistakable  distinction. 

"  '  Now,  if  we  only  had  a  brass  band  and  a 
procession,'  he  remarked  dubiously  as  he 
stood  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  the  day 
after  the  painting  was  finished,  *  we  'd  be 
ready  to  march  to  the  graveyard ! ' 

"  I  '11  venture  the  assertion,"  said  Frothing- 
ham,  "  that  your  hardware  store  never  had 
occasion  for  a  dirge." 

"  No,"  assented  Barnes ;  "  but  we  got  the 
brass  band  a  few  weeks  later,  and  we  certainly 
did  have  a  procession  —  a  procession  of  cus- 
tomers! The  band,  you  see,  was  another  in- 
spiration. For  some  days  I  had  been  build- 

176 


INNER    SECRETS 

ing  a  model  kitchen  in  our  show  window,  for 
the  purpose  of  displaying  to  the  best  advan- 
tage our  stock  of  cooking  utensils,  and  I  had 
been  trying  to  think  up  the  best  way  of  get- 
ting the  people  out  to  see  the  thing.  Suddenly 
recalling  the  remark  about  the  band,  I 
dropped  my  work  and  hunted  up  my  em- 
ployer, suggesting  that  we  build  a  little  bal- 
cony outside  the  upper  windows  and  really 
get  a  band  to  give  a  series  of  afternoon  and 
evening  concerts.  The  plan  proved  popular; 
our  funereal-looking  store  was  really  getting 
to  be  a  lively  proposition.  Already  it  stood 
out  among  the  stores  of  the  city  in  a  way  that 
was  undeniable.  There  was  nobody  in  town 
now  who  did  n't  know  the  black  store. 

"  I  can't  just  explain  how  all  these  ideas 
came  to  me,  but  I  know  that  ideas,  after  all, 
are  a  sort  of  habit.  So  far  as  I  could  see,  I 
was  cast  pretty  much  in  the  mold  of  other 
men,  but  the  men  about  me  certainly  did  n't 
get  ideas  the  way  I  got  them.  I  haven't  a 
shadow  of  doubt  but  they  could  have  got  them 
had  they  really  tried.  One  must  go  after 
ideas,  as  Greenleaf  says,  and  catch  them,  and 
when  they  are  caught  must  chain  them  up  so 

177 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

they  can't  escape.  All  my  life  I  have  been 
running  up  against  men  who  had  valuable 
ideas  flitting  through  their  heads  and  did  n't 
know  it.  I  have  gathered  from  other  people 
a  host  of  selling  schemes  in  just  this  fashion  - 
often  from  my  competitors. 

"  That,  indeed,  was  the  way  I  got  my  idea 
for  a  traveling  show  window,  which  was  one 
of  the  biggest  hits  we  made  during  those  early 
years.  It  chanced  that  I  boarded  at  the  same 
house  with  a  young  fellow  who  worked  in  a 
competing  hardware  store.  One  night  at  sup- 
per he  asked  me,  with  some  sarcasm : 

"  l  Well,  Bud  '  —  my  nickname  had  fol- 
lowed me  to  Blankville  —  '  what  window 
monstrosity  are  you  going  to  have  on  parade 
next? ' 

"  Quick  as  a  flash  the  idea  was  mine  —  and 
I  kept  it  dark,  you  may  be  sure.  As  soon  as 
I  got  away  from  the  table  I  took  out  my  note- 
book—  in  which  I  was  in  the  habit  of  scrawl- 
ing fragments  of  ideas  as  they  came  to  me  - 
and  wrote:  'Window  on  parade.'  Thus  I 
chained  up  the  idea  for  future  use.  That  note- 
book was  really  a  marvel.  Why,  even  to  this 
day  I  go  back  over  that  record  and  get  mate- 

178 


INNER    SECRETS 

rial  for  present  use.  Since  then  I  have  filled 
notebook  after  notebook;  I  am  still  doing  it 
and  always  shall.  There  is  scarcely  an  hour 
of  the  day  that  I  don't  take  it  out  to  imprison 
some  fleeting  germ  of  a  selling  scheme  which 
otherwise  would  be  gone  in  a  moment.  With- 
out doubt  I  have  sold  millions  of  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  through  the  ideas  I  thus 
corralled. 

"  But  go  back  to  the  particular  idea  I  thus 
abstracted  from  my  competitor's  clerk.  I 
pondered  it  long  and  deeply.  Why  was  n't  it 
just  as  logical  to  take  our  show  window  round 
the  city  as  to  have  the  city  come  down  on  Main 
Street  to  see  it?  My  employer  agreed  with 
me  that  it  was.  He  was  getting  to  be  an  enthu- 
siast in  ideas,  like  myself,  for  he  was  reaping 
substantial  returns  from  them." 

"  There  's  nothing  that  breeds  enthusiasm 
like  knowing  chaps  with  ideas,"  said  I.  "  Hir- 
ing such  chaps  is  even  better  than  knowing 
them.  I  '11  tell  you  later  on  how  I  get  hold  of 
such  fellows  myself." 

"Go  on,  Barnes!"  urged  Dowe,  impatient 
over  my  interruption.  "  Tell  us  about  that 
traveling  show  window." 

179 


TH.E    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  The  plan  was  simple  enough,"  returned 
Barnes.  "  We  hired  a  suitable  wagon,  inclos- 
ing it  with  a  special  body  having  long  glass 
windows  on  both  sides.  In  this  we  fitted  up  a 
very  pleasant  sort  of  living  room,  the  most 
conspicuous  feature  of  which  was  a  big  base- 
burner  stove.  My  employer  hired  a  pretty 
girl  to  ride  round  in  this  cheerful  living  room; 
and,  with  a  real  fire  in  the  stove,  the  thing  was 
as  catchy  a  piece  of  advertising  as  I  ever  in- 
vented. Our  policy  was  to  have  it  cover  dif- 
ferent streets  day  by  day,  making  frequent 
stops  of  an  hour  or  two  on  the  corners,  so  as  to 
give  the  advertising  a  chance  to  soak  in.  Of 
course  we  had  placards  and  literature  accom- 
panying it. 

"  I  Ve  forgotten  how  many  stoves  we  sold 
that  season, .but  I  do  know  that  we  put  out  a 
great  many  more  than  ever  before.  The 
wagon  was  continually  surrounded,  wherever 
it  went,  by  an  interested  crowd.  The  whole 
town  talked  about  the  black  hardware  store. 

"  We  followed  up  the  traveling  stove  dis- 
play with  others,  such  as  a  moving  cutlery  ex- 
hibit, a  razor  demonstration,  a  garden-imple- 
ment display,  a  tool  exhibition,  and  the  like. 

1 80 


My  idea  factory  worked  overtime 


INNER    SECRETS 

Some  of  these  were  so  successful  that  we  sent 
the  wagon  out  among  the  farmers.  The  most 
notable  of  our  efforts  in  this  campaign,  how- 
ever, was  our  paint  display.  That  year  we 
more  than  doubled  our  sales  in  this  line  of 
goods. 

"  All  this  time  our  chief  competitor  never 
dreamed  that  one  of  his  own  clerks  had  given 
us  an  idea  that  helped  us  to  exceed  him  greatly 
in  volume  of  sales  and  profits.  Of  course  he 
might  have  taken  the  plan  himself  after  he 
saw  we  were  making  good  with  it,  but  he 
did  n't  want  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of 
imitating  us.  And,  not  having  any  original 
ideas  of  his  own,  and  no  policy  of  capturing 
the  escaped  ideas  of  others,  he  lay  back  and 
watched  us  grow. 

"  My  idea  factory  worked  overtime.  No- 
body realized  how  hard  it  worked  to  get  up 
selling  schemes.  These  were  my  hobby,  my 
delight,  my  companions  day  and  night.  I 
can  say  without  hesitation  that  my  success  has 
come  from  a  multiplicity  of  selling  schemes. 
And  yet  these  schemes  did  not  come  to  me 
ready  made,  any  more  than  the  products  of 
industry  come  to  the  manufacturer  ready  to 

181 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

sell.  It  was  my  deliberate  business  to  reach 
out  in  every  direction  for  the  microbes  of  plans 
to  be  put  into  cultures  and  developed.  I  made 
mistakes,  a  lot  of  them,  and  came  near  captur- 
ing a  pestilence  now  and  then ;  but  far  of tener 
I  succeeded." 

"  Better  a  man  who  falls  down  now  and 
then,"  remarked  Gale,  "  than  one  who  never 
ventures  a  difficult  path!  " 

"  I  have  often  been  amazed  at  the  selling 
opportunities  some  men  let  slip  through  their 
fingers  without  even  seeing  them,"  Barnes 
went  on.  "  For  instance,  I  learned  by  investi- 
gation that  an  average  of  half  a  dozen  wed- 
dings a  day  took  place  in  our  city  among  the 
well-to-do  people.  The  majority  of  these 
newly  married  couples  settled  down  to  house- 
keeping right  there  and,  of  course,  became 
steady  customers  of  various  stores.  Yet  no 
systematic  effort  was  being  made  by  a  single 
merchant  in  town  to  get  their  trade. 

"  I  kept  thinking  of  this  curious  state  of 
affairs  and  wondering  how  we  could  appeal 
to  such  prospective  customers,  when  one  day 
I  was  invited  to  a  wedding  myself.  It  was  up 
to  me  to  send  a  present  and  I  selected  a  coffee- 

182 


INNER    SECRETS 

pot  from  our  stock.  It  was  a  new  design  and 
of  new  material,  and  I  learned  afterward  that 
it  was  much  admired.  Straightway  I  had  my 
idea  for  the  selling  scheme.  I  proposed  to 
my  employer  that  we  order  a  special  lot  of 
these  coffee-pots  and  then,  watching  the  mar- 
riage licenses,  make  each  bride  a  wedding 
present  of  one,  together  with  our  compli- 
ments and  literature.  It  would  give  us  a 
splendid  opening  wedge,  I  suggested,  into  a 
valuable  line  of  trade,  and  we  could  clinch  it 
with  a  diplomatic  follow-up  campaign.  Of 
course,  I  admitted,  we  should  have  to  use 
some  discretion  and  several  grades  of  coffee- 
pots. Some  of  them  might  well  cost  us  two 
or  three  dollars  apiece,  while  others  would 
have  to  be  kept  down  below  a  dollar. 

"  My  employer  looked  askance  at  the  plan 
at  first.  He  was  not  naturally  a  bold  mer- 
chandiser and  had  to  be  crowded  all  the  time. 
He  consented  to  try  the  scheme  as  a  feeler. 
Well,  we  sold  to  those  newly  wedded  folks 
that  year  enough  goods  to  pay  for  the  coffee- 
pots a  hundred  times  over;  and,  furthermore, 
we  secured  scores  of  steady  customers  who  re- 
mained with  us  for  years.  In  the  first  place, 
"183 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

it  was  a  delicate  and  personal  appeal,  which 
general  advertising  never  would  have  had; 
in  the  second  place,  the  black  hardware  store 
already  had  an  individuality  that  clinched 
the  thing.  I  often  saw  the  wisdom  of  estab- 
lishing a  personality  before  we  specialized 
like  this. 

"  Then  I  saw  another  selling  opportunity 
—  generally  overlooked  —  in  the  carpenters 
and  builders.  Here  was  a  big  line  of  tools  in 
which  no  dealer  in  our  city  had  specialized. 
We  ordered  a  lot  of  first-class  hammers;  then 
we  selected  from  our  lists  a  hundred  journey- 
man carpenters  and  made  each  a  Christmas 
present  of  a  hammer,  along  with  a  card  that 
read:  'Don't  knock  anybody  with  this;  but 
remember  that  the  black  hardware  store  can 
sell  you  high-grade  tools  at  the  lowest 
prices.' ' 

"  Did  it  pay? "  asked  Greenleaf,  with  a 
smile.  Of  course  he  knew  well  enough  that 
it  had  paid.  He  had  worked  many  a  scheme 
of  that  sort  himself. 

"  Did  it  pay?  "  repeated  Barnes,  laughing. 
"  Why,  sir,  we  were  simply  amazed  at  the 
tools  we  sold!  We  kept  getting  results  during 

184 


INNER    SECRETS 

the  whole  year;  and  you  may  be  sure  we  kept 
up  our  specialized  campaign  in  this  direc- 
tion. We  had  a  most  marvelous  system  of 
follow-ups. 

"  So,  in  like  manner,  we  took  up  all  the 
various  trades  that  used  our  lines  and  worked 
ourselves  into  their  good  graces  by  every  in- 
sidious scheme  I  could  invent.  No  line  of 
trade  was  too  small  to  be  captured.  We  even 
directed  an  individual  campaign  upon  school- 
boys by  offering  prizes  in  a  Saturday  jack- 
knife  guessing  contest." 

"  I  've  heard  of  that  trick  before,"  put  in 
Greenleaf,  knowingly. 

"  Of  course,"  admitted  Barnes.  "  Some  of 
these  schemes  are  old;  besides,  I  'm  not  offer- 
ing them  for  folks  to  take  up  and  imitate  — 
though  many  of  them  are  good  enough  yet. 
But  conditions  have  changed  in  some  respects 
since  those  days,  and  old  ideas  often  can  be 
vastly  improved  upon.  Indeed,  we  found  it 
wise  even  then  to  originate  new  schemes  con- 
stantly and  let  the  old  ones  die  when  they  had 
lost  their  novelty.  Selling  is  a  lively  game 
when  it  really  gets  results;  and  one  reason  so 
many  men  fail  at  it  is  because  they  don't  work 

185 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

their  idea  factories  hard  enough.  My  em- 
ployer was  strong  on  store  management  and 
routine  affairs,  but  weak  on  the  actual 
selling." 

"  That 's  a  common  failing,"  said  Hopkins, 
who,  indeed,  had  cause  to  know.  "  Most  mer- 
chants don't  seem  to  comprehend  that  the 
goods  comprise  only  half  the  art  of  business. 
The  other  half  is  the  handling  of  the  people. 
Either  half  by  itself  must  fail." 

"  Go  on,  Barnes,"  insisted  Dowe. 

"  Well,  when  I  was  twenty-five  years  old 
I  was  receiving  a  salary  of  forty  dollars  a 
week,  which  was  not  so  bad  at  that  period. 
About  this  time  we  began  to  reach  out  into 
new  territory.  If  we  could  sell  so  many  goods 
in  Blankville,  why  not  in  other  towns?  So, 
one  by  one,  my  employer  picked  up  a  chain 
of  small,  unsuccessful  hardware  stores.  One 
of  the  first  he  acquired  was  the  store  where 
I  had  built  my  original  hardware  locomotive. 
I  felt  sorry  for  my  former  employer.  I  could 
see  all  about  him  the  same  opportunities  for 
selling  that  I  had  found  up  at  Blankville. 
The  markets  were  there,  but  he  had  n't  risen 
to  them.  He  had  n't  made  the  specialized, 

186 


INNER    SECRETS 

sustained  effort  necessary  to  get  them.  Busi- 
ness with  him  was  a  lump  sum ;  in  reality,  it 
is  a  complex  maze,  each  problem  of  which 
must  be  reckoned  with  by  itself.  The  same 
scheme  that  will  sell  a  bride  a  stove  will  not 
sell  a  carpenter  a  kit  of  tools  or  a  builder  a 
lot  of  door-hinges.  You  must  reach  out  and 
get  hold  of  your  different  lines  of  customers, 
and  not  merely  stand  behind  the  counter  and 
call  to  the  general  public. 

"  The  local  paper  in  my  old  town  now  came 
out  with  a  genial  personal,  in  which  it  said: 
1  Our  former  townsman,  Buddie  Barnes,  has 
been  in  town  for  several  days,  making  ar- 
rangements to  take  over  for  his  company  the 
store  of  Smith  Brothers.  We  understand  that 
Smith  Brothers,  always  enterprising,  have 
sold  out  at  a  handsome  profit  and  will  look 
round  a  while  before  engaging  in  business 
again.  Buddie  is  now  general  manager  for 
his  house  and  will  make  his  headquarters,  as 
formerly,  in  Blankville;  but  we  hope  to  see 
him  oftener  at  his  old  home.  We  always  pre- 
dicted that  Buddie  would  make  a  howling 
success  of  business.  Lucky  boy,  Buddie! ' 

"  That  is  about  as  close  as  most  people  come 
187 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

to  a  true  analysis  of  success,"  asserted  Dowe. 
"  When  a  man  succeeds,  he  's  a  '  lucky  dog,' 
you  know." 

"  Well,  lucky  I  was,  in  a  way.  Right  there 
in  my  birthplace  I  duplicated  the  things  I 
had  done  up  at  Blankville.  My  first  em- 
ployers had  had  seven  years  in  which  to  watch 
me  since  I  left  them.  It  seemed  to  me  that  any 
men,  with  even  mediocre  capacity  for  obser- 
vation, might  have  seen  how  I  had  done  it; 
but,  even  under  the  shadow  of  success,  they 
had  gone  along  courting  failure.  The  l  hand- 
some profit '  spoken  of  by  the  local  newspaper 
was  in  reality  a  despairing  grasp  at  a  straw. 
The  store  that  I  had  given  an  individuality 
with  my  warship  and  locomotive,  and  the  like, 
was  about  as  limp  a  little  proposition  as  one 
could  find.  I  had  to  take  hold  all  over  again 
and  bolster  it  up;  but  within  two  years  I  had 
made  it  the  most  profitable  enterprise  in  the 
town.  By  getting  my  selling  grip  on  people 
I  made  them  buy.  To  tell  you  one-tenth  of 
the  schemes  I  put  into  operation  would  take 
a  book.  I  used  the  same  black  paint,  the  same 
brass-band  idea,  the  same  traveling  show  win- 
dow. I  broadened  the  black  idea  by  using 

188 


INNER    SECRETS 

black  wrapping  paper  and  twine,  and  heavy 
black  lettering  on  all  our  literature.  I  never 
lost  an  opportunity  to  feature  our  store  and 
goods,  but  watched  for  chances  with  hawklike 
eagerness.  In  some  way,  every  local  event 
had  our  store  pinned  to  it.  If  there  was  a  fair, 
or  church  sociable,  or  picnic,  there  the  black 
store  was  busy  with  a  contribution  or  a  puzzle 
game  or  a  booth  —  or  something  whereby  the 
people  gained  as  well  as  the  store.  At  births, 
weddings  —  and  even  funerals  —  we  were  on 
hand.  To  every  boy  born  in  the  village  we 
presented  a  sled  or  something  of  the  sort;  to 
every  girl  a  doll's  buggy  or  an  appropriate 
toy.  Each  bride  got  a  handsome  present  and 
every  new  widow  a  cluster  of  white  roses, 
with  our  condolence.  It  was  a  little  town,  and 
we  were  very  close  to  the  people.  We  meant 
to  make  our  store  the  most  popular  institution 
in  town,  and  we  did. 

"  And  then  the  special  sales  we  held !  Why, 
the  people  came  from  the  country  and  sur- 
rounding villages  to  take  advantage  of  them! 
I  announced,  for  instance,  that  if  it  rained  on 
a  given  day  I  would  mark  down  certain  goods 
forty  per  cent.  The  interest  in  this  proposi- 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

tion  was  really  amazing.  I  got  echoes  of  it 
from  far  out  in  the  country  districts.  The 
day  in  question  dawned  bright,  but  in  the 
afternoon  there  was  a  furious  thunderstorm. 
Then  came  the  crowd  —  and  we  had  to  keep 
open  until  eleven  o'clock  that  night  to  get  rid 
of  customers.  We  sold  enough  stuff  to  make 
up  the  loss  on  our  gamble  and  a  neat  profit 
besides.  In  addition,  we  kept  the  game  mov- 
ing, which  was  my  chief  motive." 

"  A  successful  business  must  be  kept  mov- 
ing," declared  Hopkins.  "  As  a  manufac- 
turer, I  discovered  that  truth  long  ago.  It 's 
a  game  that  cannot  stop,  gentlemen.  The 
hounds  are  always  after  us." 

"  There  are  a  thousand  ways  to  keep  the 
selling  game  moving,"  Barnes  told  us.  "  I  re- 
member that  at  one  time  I  staked  my  reputa- 
tion as  a  weather  prophet  on  the  announce- 
ment that  the  temperature  would  go  to  zero 
on  a  specified  day;  if  my  prognostication 
proved  correct,  then  I  would  celebrate  my 
skill  by  giving  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent  dis- 
count on  various  lines  of  stock.  In  this  little 
scheme  I  not  only  stimulated  a  great  deal  of 
interest  in  the  black  store,  but  I  assured  the 

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INNER    SECRETS 

store  of  a.  very  fair  trade  on  a  day  that  must 
otherwise  be  extremely  dull.  Well,  it  did  go 
to  zero;  but  the  farmers  came  in  just  the 
same  and  carried  away  a  cheerful  lot  of 
merchandise. 

"  Again,  I  advertised  that  if  the  weather 
were  bright  on  a  Tuesday  it  would  be  a  splen- 
did day  for  painting  barns  and  the  like,  and 
that  therefore  I  would  offer  big  bargains  in 
paints  and  brushes  if  bought  between  the  hours 
of  eight  and  five.  This  was  in  the  summer, 
and  I  knew  how  absolutely  dead  our  store 
would  be  on  a  bright  day  in  harvest-time,  with 
all  the  farmers  in  their  fields.  If  I  sold  them 
anything  on  such  a  day  it  would  have  to  be 
through  skillful  engineering.  Furthermore, 
I  knew  that  few  of  the  farmers  would  come 
themselves,  but  would  send  their  sons  and 
daughters  and  wives.  I  claim,  however,  that 
my  cunning  was  thoroughly  legitimate.  What 
is  a  man  in  business  for?  I  fixed  up  a  special 
display  of  everything  in  the  store  that  would 
appeal  especially  to  women  and  children. 

"  The  day  was  perfect.  Between  eight 
o'clock  and  two  the  forerunners  began  to 
straggle  in;  by  two  o'clock  the  store  was 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

pretty  lively;  by  four  there  was  a  veritable 
crush  of  womenfolk  and  children  —  and  we  did 
the  biggest  summer  day's  business  on  record. 

"And  all  this  —  Heaven  save  the  day!- 
was  in  that  little  old  store  where  first  I  got 
a  job!  —  the  same  little  old  store  that  had 
barely  lived  for  so  many  years,  yet  suddenly 
had  been  galvanized  into  a  proposition  that 
cleared  —  net  —  five  or  six  thousand  dollars 
a  year!  Will  anybody  say  that  Buddie  Barnes 
was  merely  lucky?  " 

"No!"  spoke  up  Gale,  emphatically. 
"  This  thing  we  call  success  is  indeed  a  defi- 
nite art  that  one  must  cultivate  with  the  exer- 
cise of  his  gray  matter." 

"Proceed!"  suggested  Dowe,  as  Barnes 
paused  to  reflect 

"  I  was  thinking,"  the  latter  said,  "  of  the 
severe  test  I  had  ahead  of  me  —  the  test  that 
came  after  Blankville.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight,  when  I  was  drawing  sixty  dollars  a  week 
as  general  manager  of  our  chain  of  hardware 
stores,  I  received  an  extraordinary  offer  from 
a  New  York  wholesale  house.  Already  I  had 
refused  several  New  York  offers,  for  I  had  a 
girl  in  Blankville  and  was  in  no  hurry  to 

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INNER    SECRETS 

leave.  Now,  however,  with  a  salary  of  six 
thousand  dollars  a  year  in  sight  and  an  inter- 
est in  the  wholesale  business,  I  could  not 
afford  to  let  the  opportunity  slip.  My  Blank- 
ville  employer  realized  too  late  that  he  had 
made  a  mistake  in  not  letting  me  in  on  the 
good  thing  I  had  built  up  for  him.  He 
offered  now  to  set  aside  a  partnership  interest 
for  me  and  raise  my  wages  to  seventy-five 
dollars  a  week;  but  I  saw  a  bigger  thing  in 
the  metropolis. 

"  So  we  had  a  quiet  wedding,  and  my  wife 
and  I  moved  down  to  the  great  town  on  the 
Hudson.  I  scarcely  realized  the  tremendous 
fight  I  was  undertaking,  but  I  think  I  should 
have  gone  anyway.  The  fight  for  business  is 
to  me  the  greatest  sport  in  life. 

"  The  wholesale  hardware  house  of  which 
I  was  now  the  general  manager  was,  I  soon 
discovered,  a  losing  proposition.  I  was  al- 
most dismayed  when  I  began  to  realize  how 
it  had  been  dropping  down  in  the  list  of  ag- 
gressive houses.  I  understood  now  why  the 
chief  owners  of  the  business  had  sent  up  to 
Blankville  for  a  manager. 

"  It  took  me  quite  a  while  to  get  my  bear- 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ings  and  measure  our  competitors.  They  were 
a  powerful  lot,  backed  by  great  capital  and 
carrying  goods  that  had  the  advantage  of  pop- 
ularity and  trademarked  reputations.  Our 
own  establishment  was  by  no  means  young,  and 
in  its  earlier  years  had  enjoyed  an  excellent 
trade;  but  bad  management  on  the  part  of 
the  heirs  who  had  fallen  into  it  had  brought 
it  to  its  present  straits. 

"  My  first  problem,  then,  was  to  find  out  the 
precise  elements  that  had  gone  to  make  up  that 
bad  management.  I  never  waste  breath  over 
lump-sum  propositions.  Many  a  time  I  have 
seen  a  man  buy  out  a  poorly  managed  business 
and  then  go  right  along  in  the  old  rut! 

"  A  careful  analysis  of  our  goods  showed 
me  that  many  of  them  were  mediocre  or  lack- 
ing in  a  definite  standard.  For  instance,  we 
were  carrying  a  nameless  half-breed  line  of 
tools,  some  of  which  were  very  fair  and  some 
practically  worthless.  Formerly  we  had  car- 
ried a  certain  line  put  out  by  a  high-grade 
manufacturer;  but  another  house  had  got 
it  away  from  us  and  was  handling  it 
exclusively." 

"  There  's  one  thing  competitors  can't  get 
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INNER    SECRETS 

away  from  a  man,"  vouchsafed  Dowe :  "  they 
can't  take  away  one's  shrewd  horse-sense  and 
fighting  ability." 

"  Sometimes  they  try  to  do  even  that,"  an- 
swered Barnes.  "  I  Ve  seen  a  competitor  back 
a  man  into  a  corner  and  bullyrag  him  until 
he  had  n't  any  wits  or  fight  left  in  him.  Two 
or  three  chaps  have  tried  it  on  me,  but  I  Ve 
turned  round  mighty  quick  and  let  'em  have 
my  heels  right  in  their  faces.  An  uncle  of 
mine  had  a  horse  that  always  did  this  when 
the  men  went  out  into  the  pasture  to  catch  him. 
He  'd  wheel  quick  as  lightning,  just  when  they 
thought  they  had  him  cinched.  I  had  a  whop- 
ping big  respect  for  that  horse,  although  he 
was  a  measly  little  beast  with  half  a  dozen 
spavins.  So  a  business  house  may  be  little  and 
homely  and  spavined,  yet  compel  a  lot  of  re- 
spect on  the  part  of  the  big  fellows. 

"  Indeed,  this  wholesale  house  of  which  I 
now  became  general  manager  was,  as  I  soon 
discovered,  spavined.  But  it  could  wheel  and 
kick,  and  it  did.  The  first  problem  was  to 
get  the  goods  back  on  a  sound  basis.  And  let 
me  say,  gentlemen,  that  what  I  did  with  tools 
may  be  taken  as  typical  of  my  efforts  with 

195 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

other  goods  later  on.  I  concentrated  on  tools 
because  it  was  vitally  necessary  to  get  quick 
action  on  something.  I  —  " 

"  My  advice  to  a  downhill  business,"  inter- 
rupted Hopkins,  with  some  emphasis,  "  is 
always  to  concentrate  —  first  upon  the  most 
likely  line  available,  and  then,  one  by  one,  on 
other  lines." 

"  I  went  up  into  Massachusetts,"  Barnes 
went  on,  "  and  had  a  day's  earnest  talk  with 
the  head  of  a  certain  establishment  manufac- 
turing hand  tools.  I  proposed  that  together 
we  undertake  a  determined  selling  campaign. 
I  agreed  to  invent  all  the  selling  schemes  and 
do  the  actual  marketing,  while  he  was  to 
strengthen  his  qualities  to  a  definite  standard, 
trademark  some  of  his  lines  in  a  pulling  way, 
and  spend  some  money  on  specialized  adver- 
tising. Of  course  my  house  was  to  have  the 
exclusive  handling  of  these  particular  trade- 
marked  lines. 

"  The  reputation  I  had  gained  up  in  the 
Blankville  territory  enabled  me  to  close  the 
contract,  especially  as  this  manufacturer  had 
been  wondering  for  a  long  time  how  he  could 
sell  more  of  his  product. 

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INNER    SECRETS 

"  While  the  manufacturer  was  getting  his 
quality  into  shape  I  was  busy  with  my  selling 
organization.  We  had  only  nine  traveling 
men  at  that  time  and  our  financial  handicaps 
prevented  plunging,  even  had  I  wanted  to  go 
about  it  that  way.  I  called  in  all  our  salesmen 
and  studied  them  at  first  hand,  went  over  their 
records,  analyzed  their  territories  and  put  the 
results  on  paper.  I  have  always  found  that 
an  analysis,  no  matter  what,  takes  on  a  differ- 
ent aspect  when  it  is  written  out  in  cold  words. 

"  Then  I  gave  a  little  dinner  to  these  men, 
taking  care  that  no  outsiders  were  within 
hearing.  Over  our  cigars,  I  talked  until  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  suppose  what  I  said 
about  the  art  of  salesmanship  sounded  rather 
fantastic  to  some  of  those  men,  but  every  word 
of  it  was  based  on  what  I  had  done  at  Blank- 
ville.  I  told  them  that  selling  was  really  a 
science  composed  of  a  host  of  little  things  and 
that  each  one  of  these  little  things  was  of  itself 
a  selling  scheme.  One  by  one  I  took  up  a 
score  of  these  lesser  ingredients  of  salesman- 
ship —  entirely  removed  from  the  great  prob- 
lem of  the  goods  themselves  —  and  analyzed 
for  their  benefit  a  high-class  salesman  and  a 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

poor  one.  I  knew  that  I  hit  some  of  those 
chaps  pretty  hard  —  and  I  meant  to. 

"  My  next  step  was  to  make  an  extended 
trip  through  the  Middle  and  Western  states. 
It  was  quite  an  expense,  for  I  was  gone  a 
month;  but  the  information  I  gathered  was 
afterward  worth  a  fortune  to  me.  I  did  not 
go  to  sell  goods,  but  to  discover  the  best  sec- 
tion of  the  country  to  select  for  our  initial  tool 
campaign." 

"  There  are  two  ways  to  launch  a  selling 
campaign,"  Hopkins  interpolated,  raising  his 
voice  as  the  Limited  thundered  over  a  bridge. 
"  The  wrong  way  is  to  go  it  blind,  as  many 
a  house  has  done,  and  dissipate  one's  energies 
by  lack  of  specialization.  The  right  way  is 
to  hunt  out  the  lines  of  least  resistance." 

"You've  hit  the  nail  squarely!"  Barnes 
called  the  Pullman  porter  and  sent  for  more 
cigars.  "  For  instance,  I  might  have  started 
the  campaign  by  attempting  to  cover  all  our 
territory,  using  our  nine  salesmen.  Instead,  I 
picked  out  two  populous  Western  states  and 
drew  a  carefully  worked-out  line  that  bounded 
our  first  season's  efforts.  This  territory  I  se- 
lected for  two  reasons:  First,  because  it  was 

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INNER    SECRETS 

developing  extraordinarily  fast,  a  fact  I 
proved  by  first-hand  statistics;  second,  be- 
cause our  competitors  seemed  particularly  ne- 
glectful of  its  special  opportunities.  Here, 
then,  was  our  opportunity! 

"  I  went  back  to  New  York  and  called  in 
three  men  I  had  chosen  for  the  purpose  in 
view.  Since  our  little  dinner,  all  our  travel- 
ing men  had  been  doing  very  much  better 
work;  these  three  especially  had  proved  the 
truth  of  my  theories. 

"  Now  I  took  these  men  up  to  Massachusetts 
with  me,  and  we  all  spent  a  week  in  the  tool 
factory,  studying  our  goods  and  the  process  of 
manufacture.  We  got  a  wholly  new  light  on 
this  aspect  of  the  business,  and  I  can  say  that 
this  one  week's  time  was  worth  to  our  house 
many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
ultimately. 

"  At  last,  after  several  months  of  prepara- 
tion, we  were  ready  to  spring  our  coup.  My 
three  salesmen  were  down  in  their  new  terri- 
tories, with  strong  inducements  to  do  their 
best  work.  The  local  newspapers  down  there 
came  out  with  the  manufacturer's  ads,  and  we 
used  the  street  cars  and  other  special  advertis- 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ing  mediums.  The  trademark  name  —  my 
own  conception  —  was  very  attractive  and  was 
featured  as  heavily  as  possible. 

"  I  have  already  told  you  some  of  the  novel 
methods  that  sold  goods  for  me  at  Blankville. 
These  selling  schemes  I  now  adapted  to  this 
special  line  of  tools,  and  my  three  lieutenants 
—  who  were  now  thoroughly  saturated  with 
my  history  and  my  ideas  —  proceeded  to  satu- 
rate the  local  dealers  down  there.  Thus  all 
over  that  territory  began  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary selling  campaigns  I  ever  engi- 
neered. The  best  of  it  was  that  it  did  not  run 
up  a  prohibitive  expense,  either  for  my  house 
or  for  the  manufacturer.  The  local  dealers 
were  spurred  by  legitimate  hope  of  gain  to 
undertake  the  heaviest  part  of  the  work.  That 
is  the  advantage  of  a  properly  built  organiza- 
tion. The  men  at  the  top  of  it  plan;  those 
lower  down  execute." 

"  No  business  can  achieve  great  success," 
said  Hopkins,  "  when  the  management  has  to 
do  the  detailed  work  as  well  as  to  engineer 
the  thing." 

"  Here  's  another  point,"  continued  Barnes; 
"  another  point  that  I  often  observe  in  unsuc- 

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INNER    SECRETS 

cessful  wholesalers:  they  fall  short  because 
they  don't  understand  retailing.  What  is 
wholesaling,  anyway,  but  a  step  in  retailing? 
If  all  men  in  the  retail  business  knew  how  to 
sell  goods  the  manufacturer  and  jobber  could 
afford  to  lie  back  and  merely  supply  those 
goods;  but,  with  only  one  man  out  of  ten 
really  competent  to  do  the  actual  retail  mar- 
keting, the  problem  for  the  wholesaler  is  to 
educate  the  retailer  and  ginger  him  up. 

"  Well,  we  did  educate  those  fellows  and 
ginger  them  up  until  they  were  almost  as  en- 
thusiastic —  some  of  them  —  as  I  had  been 
at  Blankville.  We  tried  to  make  every  hard- 
ware store  in  that  territory  reflect  as  closely 
as  possible  my  old  Blankville  headquarters. 
A  wonderful  story  that  Blankville  tale  was  to 
those  hardware  men  — -a  story  that  never  grew 
old.  We  proved  it  to  them  by  indisputable 
evidence.  One  day  one  of  these  dealers  came 
to  New  York  and  I  took  him  up  to  Blankville 
in  person,  and  on  through  the  whole  chain  of 
stores.  He  went  home  immensely  enthusias- 
tic. Then  I  hit  on  a  new  selling  scheme.  I 
announced  to  the  local  Western  dealers  that 
my  house  would  pay  the  expenses  of  a  trip 

2OI 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

to  New  York  whenever  one  of  them  attained  a 
given  volume  of  sales  in  tools.  Whenever  a 
dealer  took  advantage  of  this  offer  I  con- 
ducted him  straightway  to  Blankville  and  the 
chain.  This,  indeed,  was  my  chief  motive. 
My  former  employer  was  quite  willing  to  let 
us  go  over  the  comparative  statistics  of  our 
growth  and  to  let  me  point  out,  by  means  of 
the  books,  the  results  of  our  most  notable  cam- 
paigns. In  every  instance  the  Western  dealer 
went  home  with  his  selling  instincts  thor- 
oughly aroused  and  —  better  still  —  with  a 
new  stock  of  definite  selling  schemes." 

"  There  is  nothing  that  wakes  up  a  man  like 
success  —  the  success  of  another  fellow  pre- 
sented in  concrete,  understandable  form," 
opined  Gale. 

"  I  had  many  selling  schemes  during  that 
campaign."  Barnes  went  along  with  his  nar- 
rative. The  hour  was  late,  but  not  one  of  us 
wanted  him  to  quit  —  not  even  Dorothy.  As 
for  me,  I  could  have  stayed  there  all  night  and 
heard  Barnes  talk,  for  his  was  a  selling  story 
that  came  very  close  home  to  me.  My  life 
problem,  you  know,  is  selling  goods.  I  sell 
both  at  retail  and  wholesale,  and  since  I  Ve 

202 


INNER    SECRETS 

known  Barnes  I  Ve  added  twenty  per  cent  to 
my  firm's  business.  "  I  had  many  selling 
schemes,"  he  repeated,  "  but  always,  so  far  as 
I  could  direct  them  during  that  particular 
campaign,  tools  were  the  chief  feature.  Of 
course  my  three  traveling  men  sold  a  general 
line  of  hardware,  and  a  very  substantial  line  it 
proved  to  be;  but  all  the  fireworks  were  con- 
centrated on  the  tools.  We  featured  kits  of 
tools  in  numerous  varieties;  we  engineered 
all  sorts  of  special  sales;  we  reached  out  and 
got  our  irresistible  grip  on  the  farmers,  on  the 
butchers,  on  the  builders,  on  the  city  house- 
holders, on  the  workshops,  on  the  schoolboys. 
"  We  kept  the  names  of  all  customers  who 
bought  our  tools,  and  followed  them  up  with 
propositions  they  could  not  ignore.  Did  you 
ever  stop  to  think  that  the  average  house  seems 
to  consider  a  sale  a  closed  incident?  How 
many  hundreds  of  strangers  have  you  seen  go 
into  a  place  of  business,  buy  something  or 
other  and  walk  out,  never  to  go  back  again? 
Imagine  yourself  the  owner  of  such  a  store. 
You  would  n't  have  known  how  to  follow  up 
these  customers,  had  you  wanted  to  do  so,  be- 
cause you  let  them  get  away  without  revealing 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

their  identity.  Of  course,  if  you  had  gone 
about  it  bluntly  to  find  out  a  customer's  name 
you  would  have  offended  him,  no  doubt;  but 
there  are  always  fine  little  schemes  by  which 
you  can  accomplish  such  things.  When  a  man 
bought  a  saw,  for  instance,  our  dealers  asked 
his  name  and  address  so  that  he  might  have  a 
chance  to  draw  a  certain  neat  litle  kit  we  were 
offering  at  some  fair  or  picnic  or  entertain- 
ment. Then  we  kept  in  touch  with  him  if  we 
considered  him  worth  while.  The  lists  we 
built  up  in  this  way  proved  invaluable  in  that 
campaign  and  subsequently.  We  made  our 
customers  come  back  again  and  again  to  buy 
our  goods. 

"  I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  what  we  did 
to  build  up  sales  in  other  lines  aside  from  tools, 
but  perhaps  you  can  put  two  and  two  together. 
We  followed  the  tool  campaign  in  this  same 
territory  with  a  cutlery  campaign,  and  mean- 
while we  jumped  over  into  another  territory 
with  our  tools.  Then  we  came  along  with  a 
special  line  of  cooking  utensils,  a  line  of  build- 
ers' hardware,  and  so  on  —  continually  add- 
ing to  our  selling  staff  and  crowding  the 
enemy's  lines  harder  and  harder.  Oh  yes  — 

204 


INNER    SECRETS 

the  enemy  came  down  upon  us  in  full  force, 
once  the  opposing  generals  realized  what  we 
were  doing;  but  we  had  a  pretty  good  start 
before  the  other  side  really  woke  up. 

"Our  business  grew  —  slowly  at  first,  but 
faster  as  our  organization  gathered  force.  At 
the  end  of  five  years  from  the  time  I  took  it,  it 
had  doubled  in  volume;  at  the  end  of  ten  we 
were  selling  twenty  times  the  quantity  of  goods 
we  had  begun  with  when  I  went  down  there 
from  Blankville." 

The  train  was  slowing  down  for  some  sta- 
tion and  we  could  feel  the  vibration  of  the  air- 
brakes on  the  wheels. 

"  I  reckon  that 's  about  enough,"  Barnes 
concluded,  with  a  short  laugh.  "  I  need  only 
say,  in  addition,  that  ten  years  ago  a  certain 
group  of  capitalists  came  to  me  with  their 
plans  for  a  huge  undertaking.  It  was  a  tre- 
mendous thing,  calling  for  the  highest  selling 
abilities  any  man  could  give.  In  return,  it 
offered  me  the  possibility  of  a  fortune  beyond 
anything  I  had  dreamed  of. 

"  I  sold  my  interest  in  the  hardware  com- 
pany and  embarked  in  my  new  enterprise. 
To-day,  as  you  know,  it  stands  as  conclusive 

205 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

proof  of  my  assertion  that  a  man's  chance  in 
business  is  just  about  what  he  sets  out  to  make 
it.  In  building  up  my  present  business  I  have 
merely  elaborated  the  scheme  of  selling  as 
I  have  outlined  it  to  you.  You  have  some  con- 
ception, perhaps,  of  my  success  of  to-day." 

I  imagine  that  millions  of  consumers  in  the 
United  States  and  abroad  have  tolerably  cor- 
rect ideas  of  Barnes'  success;  but  few  of  them 
have  any  conception  at  all  of  the  manner  in 
which  that  success  was  obtained.  I  wish  a 
million  men  could  have  heard  the  tale  from 
the  lips  of  this  business  master! 


206 


CHAPTER  IX 

MEN  WHO  WIN 

IT  was  well  along  toward  eleven  o'clock, 
but  there  was  no  sign  of  drowsiness  in  the 
observation-smoker  when  Barnes  con- 
cluded his  narrative.  Instead,  there  was  n't 
one  of  us  who  did  not  wish  to  hear  more.  In- 
deed, our  original  circle  of  seven  had  been 
augmented  by  a  score  or  more  of  outside  audi- 
tors. The  passengers  on  the  Overland  Lim- 
ited were  just  awaking  to  the  fact  that  a  serial 
story  of  business  success  was  in  progress.  I 
had  been  facing  the  rear  of  the  car,  and  now 
that  I  turned  I  was  surprised  to  observe  that 
in  the  group  of  listeners  back  of  me  were  sev- 
eral women.  Dorothy  Dowe  had  no  cause  to 
feel  out  of  place. 

Now  at  first  it  struck  me  as  odd  that  women 
should  come  there  and  spend  an  evening 
listening  to  a  talk  of  this  sort.  With  Dorothy 

207 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

the  case  was  different,  for  she  was  a  special 
guest  by  invitation  —  and  her  father  was  there. 
But  these  other  women  —  and  among  them 
I  saw  a  number  of  most  charming  young  faces 
—  were  on  hand  uninvited ;  nor  did  they  show 
any  inclination  to  go  away,  now  that  Barnes' 
story  was  done.  They,  too,  wished  another 
installment  of  the  serial. 

In  reality,  there  was  nothing  odd  about  this. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  I  perceived  when  I  re- 
flected upon  it,  the  interest  displayed  by  the 
women  was  most  natural  and  thoroughly  fem- 
inine. We  seven  were  men  who  had  won. 

Is  there  any  story  more  absorbing  than  that 
of  the  man  wrho  wins?  Is  there  anything 
better  calculated  to  grip  the  interest  of  women, 
as  well  as  of  men?  And  no  battle  has  more 
action  or  spectacular  incident,  or  is  more  re- 
plete with  heroic  deeds,  than  this  mighty  con- 
test we  call  business!  It  is  a  war  that  rages 
about  us  daily;  whichever  way  we  turn  we 
see  its  victories  and  its  carnage,  its  blood  and 
its  glory.  Its  soldiers  swarm  about  us  —  some 
returning  from  the  front  wounded  and  worn ; 
others  marching  to  the  fore  with  banners  wav- 
ing and  fifes  shrilly  playing.  The  flags  flutter 

208 


MEN    WHO   WIN 

all  around  us.  Yet  how  little  of  its  real  inner 
history  do  we  get!  How  scant  is  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  actual  story  itself! 

And  then  Dowe  had  spoken  with  the  deep- 
est wisdom  when  he  said  that  through  every 
business  ran  the  current  of  a  romance  —  the 
story  of  a  woman's  love  and  a  man's.  It  is 
always  the  women  who  cheer  the  maimed  but 
victorious  veteran  when  at  last  he  comes  home 
from  some  battle ;  it  is  always  the  women  who 
wave  their  farewells  and  weep  over  him  when 
he  goes  forth  again.  Yes,  the  whole  struggle 
is  carried  on  for  the  women.  To  gain 
women's  love  men  go  out  and  win  —  or  go 
down  to  their  deaths! 

So  I  repeat  that  the  presence  of  the  women 
in  the  observation-smoker  that  night  was  only 
logic.  And  even  had  Van  Dyke  and  Ritten- 
house  been  on  the  Limited,  they  would  have 
been  sadly  out  of  place  in  the  smoker;  they 
would  have  had  no  place  there  among  men 
who  had  won  or  were  fighting  to  win. 

I  don't  know  just  how  it  came  about,  for  I 
was  talking  with  Dorothy  for  a  few  minutes 
and  gave  no  attention  to  what  went  on  around 
me;  but  presently  Dorothy's  father  spoke  to 

209 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

us  and  suggested  that  we  postpone  our  side- 
talk,  because  Frothingham  had  agreed  to  tell 
his  story  that  night.  I  was  secretly  pleased, 
as  no  doubt  you  imagine,  to  see  the  color  that 
came  in  the  young  lady's  face  when  she  found 
that  the  audience  had  been  waiting  for  us  to 
be  silent.  The  fact,  I  thought,  was  rather 
complimentary  to  myself. 

Another  thing  I  discovered :  the  women  in 
the  observation-smoker  had  voluntarily  pro- 
posed that  the  men  light  their  cigars.  I  must 
have  been  immersed  in  my  conversation  with 
Dorothy  not  to  have  heard  this! 

So  we  did  light  our  Havanas,  and  asked  the 
porter  to  open  the  ventilators  just  a  little 
wider.  I  remember  that  Frothingham's  cigar 
was  very  large  and  almost  black,  and  gave 
forth  smoke  like  a  locomotive's  —  as  perhaps 
befitted  a  railroad  man  who  had  climbed  a 
steep  and  tortuous  grade. 

Frothingham's  story  was,  indeed,  one  for 
women  to  hear.  Of  all  the  success-tales  that 
were  told  on  that  overland  journey,  it  was, 
perhaps,  the  one  best  calculated  to  hold 
women  listeners.  The  influence  of  a  woman 
ran  through  it  from  beginning  to  end. 

210 


MEN   WHO   WIN 

I  think  I  have  spoken  of  Frothingham's 
eyes  —  black  as  coal  —  but  I  have  n't  given 
you  much  of  a  picture  of  him.  He  is  a  man 
of  large  frame,  yet  with  no  surplus  weight. 
His  shoulders  are  unusually  broad,  and  he 
holds  them  erect  and  square,  as  if  he  were 
ready  on  the  instant  to  fall  into  step  with  a 
regiment  —  at  the  front,  it  goes  without  say- 
ing. His  head  is  large,  and  his  hair,  which 
is  still  plentiful,  is  as  black  as  his  eyes.  These 
two  attributes  alone  —  hair  and  eyes  —  mark 
him  as  a  commanding  figure;  yet  the  strength 
in  his  face  would  be  there  were  he  as  bald  as 
Dowe  or  had  eyes  as  blue  as  a  violet.  He 
wears  no  beard,  and  his  face,  at  first  glance, 
seems  oddly  boyish.  Indeed,  one  might  take 
him  for  a  man  in  his  thirties  instead  of  one  in 
his  fifties.  A  close  student  of  physiognomy, 
however,  would  know  from  indubitable  signs 
that  his  battles  had  reached  over  decades.  Of 
course  you  know,  if  you  know  anything  at  all 
about  Frothingham,  that  he  attained  promi- 
nence early,  and  was  a  magnate  at  forty.  To- 
day he  owns  railroads  in  twenty-odd  states,  I 
believe. 


211 


CHAPTER  X 

SUCCESS  BY  THE  RAILROAD  ROUTE 

"H  P^HIRTY  years  ago,"  said  Frothingham, 
when  Miss  Dowe  and  I  had  suddenly 
relapsed  into  a  confused  silence,  "  I 
was  a  brakeman  on  a  railroad  running  into 
Jersey  City.  1  braked  for  several  years  on 
freights  and  finally  was  advanced  to  the  pas- 
senger service,  if  advancement  I  may  call  it, 
for  I  received  no  increased  pay.  Further  ad- 
vancement, however,  was  so  slow  in  coming 
that  I  almost  despaired;  more  than  once  I 
came  near  quitting  my  job  to  hunt  up  some- 
thing that  would  give  me  a  better  show  in  life. 
I  liked  railroading,  but  to  ride  up  and  down 
the  line  daily  for  five  long  years  at  fifty  dol- 
lars a  month  or  thereabout  was  not  in  keeping 
with  the  ambitions  of  a  chap  in  his  twenties. 
Besides,  I  had  married  and  established  a  home 
at  a  division  headquarters  about  a  hundred 

212 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

and  fifty  miles  from  New  York,  and  I  did  n't 
see  how  my  increasing  necessities  could  be  met 
on  such  a  meager  salary.  It  was  up  to  me  to 
strike  a  lead  somehow.  Either  I  must  quit 
railroading  or  secure  a  promotion. 

"  I  thought  the  proposition  over  very  care- 
fully and  my  wife  and  I  talked  about  it  ear- 
nestly. She  suggested  that  I  go  to  the  super- 
intendent and  explain  that  I  had  worked  for 
years  in  a  humble  capacity  and  deserved  some- 
thing better  —  really  needed  it.  I  could  tell 
him  all  the  things  I  had  done  for  the  railroad 
and,  by  thus  showing  what  a  good  man  I  was, 
force  myself  on  the  superintendent's  attention. 

"  This  seemed,  at  first,  a  fine  idea.  I  would 
do  the  thing  before  I  made  my  next  run,  I 
declared.  So  my  wife  laid  out  a  white  shirt 
and  my  reserve  uniform,  and  off  I  started.  In 
less  than  hour  I  was  back  home. 

"  I  well  remember  how  anxious  my  wife's 
face  was  as  she  met  me  at  the  door.  '  Well?  ' 
she  asked,  as  she  came  down  the  steps  toward 
me.  '  Did  you  get  into  the  superintendent's 
office,  John?  Did  you  see  him?  ' 

"  '  I  got  only  as  far  as  the  door,'  said  I. 
'  You  see,  Mary,  I  sort  of  lost  my  nerve  while 

213 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

I  was  waiting  outside  on  the  bench.  I  —  I 
was  trying  to  think  up  the  speech  I  was  to 
make  to  him;  and  somehow  I  could  n't  frame 
it  up  to  suit  me.  I  —  well,  to  tell  the  truth, 
Mary,  I  got  up  and  ran  away.' 

"  I  saw  the  tears  of  disappointment  anol 
vexation  spring  to  my  wife's  eyes.  Upstairs 
in  our  cottage  the  baby  was  crying.  I  glanced 
about  ruefully  upon  our  meager  little  home. 
Everything  spoke  of  our  need  of  money. 

111  Oh,  John!'  the  poor  girl  cried  — 'Oh, 
John!  I  really  thought  you  had  more  nerve! ' 

"  '  Well,'  said  I,  sinking  into  a  chair  with  a 
sigh,  'I  'm  not  so  sure  that  it's  nerve  I  lack. 
Maybe  it 's  something  else.  You  suggested 
that  I  tell  the  superintendent  all  the  things 
I  had  done  for  the  railroad.  Now  that 's  just 
where  all  the  trouble  lay.  When  I  came  to 
framing  up  my  speech  I  could  n't  think  of 
anything  I  'd  done  —  not  one  solitary  thing, 
Mary,  beyond  the  things  I  was-  forced  to  do.' 

"  '  But,  John,'  she  protested  —  '  But,  John, 
you  know  you  've  always  been  faithful!  How 
can  you  say  such  things  about  yourself?  ' 

"  l  A  dog  can  be  faithful,'  said  I.  '  Now  I 
tell  you,  Mary,  I  Ve  got  a  hunch  that  I  Ve 

214 


SUCCESS;    RAILROAD   ROUTE 

gone  about  this  thing  from  a  wrong  philos- 
ophy. Before  I  hit  the  old  man  for  a  better 
job,  I  'm  going  to  do  something  that  he  can 
see  for  himself! ' 

"  Mary  went  upstairs  to  quiet  the  baby  and 
I  fell  to  thinking. 

"  I  kept  on  thinking  that  day  while  I  was 
out  on  my  run.  My  train  was  a  fast  one;  at 
some  of  the  stations  we  stopped  to  discharge 
passengers  from  a  distance,  but  not  to  take  any- 
body on.  At  these  stops  we  almost  always  had 
a  lot  of  trouble  with  people  who  mistook  our 
train  for  the  local  following  it.  To  prevent 
their  getting  on,  we  had  to  use  the  whole  train 
crew  to  bar  the  steps.  Our  conductor  was  a 
grouchy  old  chap  —  a  good  railroader,  but  a 
poor  man  to  handle  people  diplomatically. 
Many  a  time  I  had  seen  him  confront  anxious 
travelers  at  these  discharge  stops  and,  without 
explaining,  merely  grunt:  '  Nothin'  doin'!' 
Sometimes  he  had  to  fight  with  them  almost  to 
keep  them  off  the  train. 

"  Well,  I  had  fallen  pretty  much  into  the 
same  habit  myself  —  so  had  the  rest  of  the 
crew;  but  now,  on  this  particular  day,  a  new 
light  came  over  me.  I  wanted  to  do  something 

215 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

for  the  railroad  out  of  the  ordinary,  so  it  oc- 
curred to  me  to  begin  with  politeness. 

"  (  This  is  the  special  limited,  madam;  it  is 
not  allowed  to  take  passengers  from  this  sta- 
tion. Will  you  please  wait  for  the  local? 
It  '11  be  along  pretty  soon.'  This,  or  some- 
thing like  it,  was  the  way  I  commenced  to  act 
upon  my  new  philosophy. 

"  About  a  week  later  the  superintendent  was 
on  the  train.  As  he  walked  up  and  down  the 
platform  at  one  of  these  troublesome  stops,  I 
saw  him  glance  at  me  sharply  as  I  explained, 
with  rather  extraordinary  elaborateness,  that 
local  tickets  were  not  good  on  the  special  lim- 
ited. I  knew  well  enough  that  my  bearing 
and  politeness  were  unusual  on  our  line.  At 
that  time  the  officials  of  the  road  had  given 
the  finer  points  of  personal  contact  little 
thought. 

During  the  following  month  I  broadened 
my  scheme;  I  watched  for  opportunities  on 
the  train  to  bestow  little  attentions  on  pas- 
sengers. I  looked  after  the  ventilators  more 
carefully,  opened  and  shut  windows,  carried 
baggage  for  women  and  old  persons;  and 
quite  a  good  many  times  I  had  occasion  to  re- 

216 


"I  watched  for  opportunities  on  the  train  to  bestow 
little  attentions  on  passengers" 


SUCCESS;    RAILROAD    ROUTE 

fuse  tips.  I  was  after  bigger  game.  My  phi- 
losophy was  to  serve  the  company;  and  if  in- 
cidentally I  served  the  company's  patrons  I 
was  not  the  sort  to  take  money  for  it  like  a  ser- 
vant. This  view  of  the  thing  never  seemed  to 
occur  to  my  associates  on  the  railroad,  and  I 
was  subjected  to  much  good-natured  raillery 
-  and  some  that  was  not  good-natured  —  be- 
cause of  my  altered  demeanor.  Mary  and  I 
talked  it  over,  and  we  kept  our  counsel. 

"  (  It 's  like  this,  Mary,'  I  said,  one  night  at 
supper:  '  if  only  I  can  make  myself  stand  out 
conspicuously  in  the  eyes  of  the  officials  some- 
thing is  bound  to  come  of  it.  In  the  past  I  Ve 
been  only  one  bean  among  a  bushel.  Now 
I  'm  a  different  sort  of  bean,  you  see.  I  'm  get- 
ting away  from  the  common  lot' ' 

1  To  succeed,  one  must  always  do  this,"  said 
Barnes.  "  But  there  is  one  important  thing  to 
consider,  gentlemen:  simply  being  a  different 
sort  of  bean  will  not  of  itself  bring  success. 
The  bean  must  be  better,  as  well  as  different 
A  black  bean  among  a  lot  of  white  ones  may 
be  conspicuous,  but  when  you  eat  it  perhaps 
you  '11  find  a  hard  kernel  inside  that  '11  break 
off  your  tooth." 

217 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"True  enough!"  Frothingham  agreed. 
"  But  I  was  n't  a  black  bean,  Mr.  Barnes. 
You  will  observe,  as  I  proceed,  that  my  flavor 
improved  and  that  I  had  no  hard  kernel  for 
people  to  bite  on.  Well,  I  was  speaking  of 
Mrs.  Frothingham,  and  of  our  conversation 
at  supper  that  night  *  Yes,  John,'  said  she, 
as  I  passed  up  my  dish  for  another  serving  of 
prunes  —  we  were  long  on  prunes  in  those 
days  —  *  Yes,  John,  you  are  getting  away  from 
the  common  lot,  and  since  you  're  making 
yourself  agreeably  conspicuous,  you  'd  better 
wear  your  reserve  uniform  after  this  and  get 
another  for  emergencies.  It  won't  pay  to  look 
shabby.' 

"  So  I  spruced  up  and,  altogether,  became 
quite  a  Chesterfield. 

"  Among  other  things  I  did  under  my  new 
philosophy  was  to  announce  the  stations  so 
that  every  passenger  in  the  car  could  hear. 
Instead  of  standing  on  the  platform  and  yell- 
ing to  no  purpose,  I  walked  the  length  of  the 
car,  calling  the  stations  repeatedly.  One  day, 
after  I  had  done  this,  an  old  gentleman  sum- 
moned me.  (  You  are  the  first  brakeman  I 
ever  knew  who  called  the  stations  properly/ 

218 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD    ROUTE 

he  said.  '  It  is  evident  to  me  that  you  have 
the  right  sort  of  intelligence  and  energy.  I  'd 
like  to  have  your  name.' 

"  I  gave  it  to  him,  and  afterward  I  learned 
that  he  was  one  of  the  directors  in  the  com- 
pany. It  was  only  a  week  later  that  a  special 
messenger  came  to  my  house  one  night  with 
orders  to  take  out  number  six,  at  eleven-fifty- 
five,  as  conductor.  A  proud  moment  it  was 
for  me  when  I  gave  the  signal  and  swung  my- 
self aboard. 

"  Well,  I  was  happy  enough  for  a  time,  but 
Mary  said  to  me  one  day: 

"  '  John,  you  must  n't  stop  where  you  are. 
Now  that  you  Ve  learned  how  to  get  a  better 
job,  why  not  try  for  trainmaster?  Don't  be- 
come a  mere  bean  among  the  bushel  again; 
you  're  smart  enough  to  be  president  of  the 
railroad  some  day  —  you  know  you  are.' 

"  *  I  Ve  been  thinking  about  that  too,'  said 
I --'there  are  beans  among  conductors  as 
well  as  among  brakemen.  I  think  I  '11  have 
to  turn  myself  into  a  radish,  so  they  '11  pick 
me  out  and  put  me  in  the  radish  class.' 

"  So  I  set  about  giving  myself  a  distinction 
as  conductor.  Mary  and  I  often  planned  it 

219 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

out  and  reduced  our  philosophy  to  actual  fact 
*  John,'  she  said,  l  you  must  get  the  reputation 
of  being  the  very  best  and  most  agreeable  con- 
ductor on  the  line.  Are  n't  there  lots  of  times 
when  you  can  help  the  passengers  plan  out 
their  connections  and  routes,  and  things  of 
that  sort?  Can't  you  help  them  about  decid- 
ing on  hotels?  And  say,  John,  could  n't  you 
do  something  to  make  traveling  pleasanter  for 
folks  who  don't  ride  in  Pullmans?  When 
I  Ve  been  on  the  cars  myself  I  Ve  often  longed 
for  a  pillow  to  put  against  the  back  of  the  seat 
and  a  place  to  wash  my  hands  —  and  things 
of  that  sort.' 

"  It  was  not  always  easy  to  keep  up  my  Ches- 
terfield atmosphere;  but,  with  my  wife's  en- 
couragement, I  did  it.  I  got  the  reputation  of 
being  the  most  popular  conductor  on  the  road, 
and  it  was  n't  long  before  I  could  see  that  the 
higher  officials  had  me  singled  out.  They 
talked  to  me  when  they  traveled  over  the  line 
and  I  knew  they  were  pleased  with  me. 

"  The  trainmaster,  too,  classified  me  as  be- 
longing to  a  species  out  of  the  common  run  of 
conductors;  but  even  he  did  not  know  that  I 
was  really  a  sort  of  actor  —  that,  had  I  fol- 

220 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

lowed  my  own  inclinations,  I  should  have  re- 
mained a  bean  instead  of  becoming  a  radish. 
To  be  a  radish,  in  other  words,  required  a  dis- 
tinct, conscious  effort,  steadily  maintained. 
This,  I  take  it,  is  what  some  men  in  trade  call 
a  business  policy.  It  is  what  every  man  must 
have  if  he  makes  the  most  of  success. 

"  One  day,  when  the  general  manager  was 
on  my  train,  I  suggested  to  him  the  ideas  my 
wife  had  originated  —  washbowls  and  pil- 
lows. He  laughed  at  first,  but  the  next  time  I 
saw  him  he  said  he  had  laid  the  matter  before 
the  president,  who  was  much  interested  in 
building  up  our  passenger  traffic. 

"  It  was  not  a  great  while  before  some  of 
our  coaches  on  the  long  runs  were  equipped 
with  these  conveniences.  One  day  I  observed 
a  woman  passenger  tying  a  newspaper  about 
her  hat  before  she  put  it  on  the  rack  —  and 
another  idea  came  to  me.  When  the  general 
manager  went  over  the  line  on  my  train  next 
time  I  suggested  furnishing  large  paper  bags 
for  protecting  women's  hats.  This  was  a 
clever  thought,  he  agreed ;  it  was  one  of  those 
little  conceits  the  president  was  looking  for  in 
his  efforts  to  make  our  road  distinctive.  The 

221 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

plan  was  adopted,  and  I  know  it  brought  many 
hundreds  of  dollars  in  traffic  to  our  company 
within  a  year.  I  talked  with  group  after 
group  of  women  on  my  trains  who  told  me 
they  had  selected  our  route  because  the  cinders 
on  the  other  lines  were  so  harmful  to  their 
hats. 

"  Another  time  I  noticed  a  passenger  tug- 
ging at  one  of  our  awkward  wooden  window- 
blinds,  and  I  suggested  to  the  president  him- 
self, who  came  over  the  line  next  day  in  his 
private  car,  that  we  substitute  the  sliding- 
curtain.  This  was  done  as  fast  as  possible. 

"  In  these  days  I  grew  into  the  acquaintance 
of  those  above  me  and  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  I  was  contributing  in  a  material 
way  to  the  success  of  our  railroad.  Not  all  my 
suggestions  were  adopted,  but  I  had  gained  the 
reputation  of  being  a  man  with  ideas  worth 
cultivating. 

"  I  was  not  surprised,  then,  when  I  suc- 
ceeded to  the  position  of  trainmaster,  the 
former  incumbent  having  been  made  division 
superintendent. 

"  *  Now,  John,'  said  my  wife  that  very  night, 
'  you  Ve  got  among  the  radishes  at  last,  but 

222 


SUCCESS;    RAILROAD   ROUTE 

you  must  n't  stay  there.  You  Ve  got  to  change 
yourself  into  a  —  well,  a  cabbage.' 

"  i  Not  quite  so  fast,  Mary,'  I  answered;  (  I 
fancy  I  '11  have  to  be  a  turnip  first.' 

"  The  problem  now  seemed  harder  than 
ever.  What  could  I  do  as  trainmaster  to  make 
myself  stand  out  above  all  the  trainmasters  on 
our  road?  Yet,  if  I  meant  to  go  about  deliber- 
ately to  lay  my  wires  for  another  promotion 
I  must  draw  the  attention  of  the  management 
in  some  consistent  but  non-spectacular  way. 
I  must  steadily  hammer  home  the  fact  that  I 
was  delivering  every  day  a  stock  of  ideas 
that  benefited  the  road  and  made  me  more 
valuable. 

"  I  looked  about  on  my  fellow  trainmasters 
and  analyzed  them.  They  were  good,  capable 
fellows ;  but,  as  I  came  to  know  them  —  per- 
sonally in  some  cases  and  through  their  work 
- 1  could  not  discover  in  one  of  them  any 
evidence  of  the  philosophy  along  which  I  my- 
self was  working.  Not  one  among  them 
seemed  to  stand  out  conspicuously  as  a  high- 
grade  man.  I  tried  to  imagine  myself  in  the 
position  of  the  general  manager,  surveying 
these  men  in  a  quest  for  executive  ability. 

223 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

Which  one  would  be  most  likely  as  a  candi- 
date? Mary  and  I  discussed  the  problem, 
and  she  closed  the  subject  by  saying:  'John, 
they're  all  radishes  and  all  just  alike;  you 
really  must  be  a  turnip.' 

"  I  thought  about  the  problem  all  day  and 
night.  It  was  a  great  game  I  was  playing. 
I  had  won  so  far  and  I  meant  to  go  on  win- 
ning. We  had  moved  out  of  our  tiny  cottage 
now  and  had  an  eight-room  house.  Things 
were  coming  my  way,  including  a  bank 
account. 

"  '  Mary,'  I  said  one  evening,  '  I  Ve  got  a 
splendid  idea  for  a  new  signal  code,  and  if  it 
were  n't  for  butting  in  on  that  cranky  engi- 
neer of  signals  I  'd  propose  it  to  the  company; 
but  that  chap  is  sore  at  me  already  for  being 
too  busy,  as  he  says.' 

"  *  What  department  is  he  in?'  asked  my 
wife. 

"  l  He  's  under  the  chief  engineer  of  main- 
tenance-of-way,'  I  explained.  1 1  don't  like  to 
antagonize  those  fellows,  but  — ' 

"  *  Go  straight  to  the  chief  engineer  of  his 
department! '  interrupted  my  wife.  *  It 's  just 
the  chance  you  Ve  been  looking  for.' 

224 


SUCCESS;    RAILROAD   ROUTE 

"  So  I  went  —  and  the  ultimate  result  was  a 
radical  change  in  some  of  our  signaling 
methods;  but  by  doing  so  I  aroused  the  jeal- 
ousy of  more  than  one  man  and  made  some 
enemies  who  afterward  influenced  my  life 
very  much  —  for  my  own  betterment 

"  Well,  that  signal  idea  was  only  the  begin- 
ning. I  evolved  a  lot  of  ideas  on  railroading 
and  I  set  to  work  to  study  everything  that 
would  help  me.  We  were  doing  a  good  many 
things  in  those  days  rather  crudely.  If  you 
will  look  back  you  will  see  what  vast  strides 
the  railroads  have  made  in  every  branch  of 
the  business.  Did  you  ever  stop  to  consider 
that  somebody  thought  out,  with  infinite  study 
and  slow  evolution,  every  one  of  the  improve- 
ments? Yet  I  can  turn  back  in  memory  to  my 
associates  of  that  period  and  call  off  man  after 
man  who  never  contributed  anything  worth 
mentioning  to  the  march  of  progress.  And 
among  those  men  were  none  who  ever  got 
very  high  up. 

"  One  day  during  that  period  I  heard  a 
young  locomotive  engineer  boast  that  he  often 
ran  past  signals  when  he  was  sure  they  were 
only  matters  of  form.  This  set  me  thinking, 

225 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

and  I  proposed  to  the  division  superintendent 
that  he  make  a  'surprise'  test  to  discover  which 
engineers  were  in  the  habit  of  doing  this.  Ob- 
servers were  stationed  where  they  could  keep 
a  systematic  watch  during  a  certain  night;  the 
result  was  astonishing  and  alarming.  The  dis- 
cipline was  immediately  drawn  very  tight. 

"  On  another  occasion  I  worked  out  a  plan 
by  which  a  change  in  our  time-schedule  en- 
abled us  to  obviate  chronic  congestion  on  a 
certain  division.  On  this  division  it  was  not 
uncommon  to  hold  freight  trains  on  sidings 
for  six  or  eight  hours  at  a  stretch.  This  was 
not  my  business,  strictly  speaking;  but  I  was 
working  on  the  theory  that  anything  was  my 
business  when  it  benefited  the  road.  I  was 
always  looking  for  these  neglected  problems. 
No  matter  what  your  calling,  you  will  always 
find  plenty  of  them.  Why,  I  can  go  into  al- 
most any  business  establishment  you  may  des- 
ignate this  moment  and  find,  within  half  an 
hour,  just  this  sort  of  material  to  work  on. 
Why  don't  men  see  their  opportunities? 
My  own  success  has  come  from  analyzing 
opportunity. 

"  Once,  when  I  had  occasion  to  spend  half 
226 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

a  day  at  a  town  on  our  line,  I  found  myself 
analyzing  the  layout  of  a  new  station,  work  on 
which  was  just  beginning.  I  could  see  very 
plainly  that  the  depot  was  to  be  built  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  right-of-way.  As  soon  as 
I  had  a  chance  to  see  our  architect  —  who  was 
on  the  staff  of  the  chief  engineer  —  I  men- 
tioned the  matter  to  him.  He  became  very 
angry  and  told  me  bluntly  to  mind  my  own 
affairs. 

"  I  related  the  incident  to  my  wife  that 
night.  *  Well,'  she  said,  with  genuine  logic, 
*  if  it  really  were  n't  your  affair  you  could 
afford  to  drop  it;  but,  since  you  expressed 
your  opinion  purely  for  the  good  of  the  rail- 
road, I  think  you  'd  better  take  the  matter 
higher  up.' 

"  I  had  opportunity  to  do  so  within  a  day  or 
two  when  I  met  the  chief  engineer  out  on  the 
road.  He  listened  to  my  suggestion  and,  after 
some  consideration  on  the  part  of  those  at  the 
very  top,  the  station  was  built  on  the  other 
side.  The  wisdom  of  this  has  been  demon- 
strated ever  since,  for  the  strategic  site  of  the 
new  depot  enabled  our  road  to  get  many  pas- 
sengers who  were  brought  to  this  town  by  the 

227 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

trains  of  another  railroad  and  had  the  choice 
of  two  lines  to  a  common  terminal. 

"  Of  course  this  was  n't  any  of  my  business 
either.  The  architect  became  another  one  of 
the  little  army  of  enemi-es  I  was  making.  He 
was  a  narrow  man  and  I  did  n't  worry  much 
over  him. 

"  I  had  a  similar  experience  with  the  engi- 
neer of  tests  when  I  suggestd  the  necessity  of 
doing  something  differently.  I  felt  certain 
that  disaster  would  result  unless  the  methods 
of  testing  were  changed;  and,  instead  of 
crawling  into  my  shell  after  being  rebuffed, 
I  saw  the  general  superintendent  of  motive 
power.  The  engineer  of  tests  was  furious, 
but —  Well,  I  was  making  myself  a  turnip, 
and  I  did  n't  care.  In  the  midst  of  consider- 
able friction  I  was  steadily  forcing  home  a  lot 
of  ideas  that  earned  the  company  money  — 
and,  I  believed,  saved  lives.  I  knew,  too,  that 
the  company  had  me  singled  out  as  a  man  out 
of  the  ordinary." 

"  When  a  man  singles  himself  out  and  gets 
into  a  class  above  the  ordinary,"  declared 
Barnes,  "  the  company,  too,  is  bound  to  single 
him  out.  When  a  college  professor  takes  his  net 

228 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

and  goes  out  to  catch  bugs,  he  does  n't  bother 
to  catch  the  commonplace  ones;  he  keeps  his 
eyes  open  for  the  fine  bugs,  every  time." 

"Ah!"  spoke  up  the  usually  silent  Gale. 
"  He  wants  the  fine  bugs,  Mr.  Barnes,  but 
often  he  does  n't  catch  them  because  he  has  n't 
the  right  sort  of  net." 

Now  this  struck  a  responsive  chord  in  my 
own  experience,  and  I  began  to  say  something 
about  my  specialty  in  business,  organization; 
but  Dowe  politely  interrupted,  after  I  had 
talked  for  a  minute  or  two.  He  reminded  me 
that  Frothingham  had  the  floor.  At  this  I 
shut  up  rather  suddenly,  a  bit  piqued,  I  con- 
fess. But  the  next  moment  Miss  Dorothy 
looked  at  me  with  a  smile  in  her  eyes  —  just 
the  sort  of  smile  I  had  seen  her  bestow  on  her 
father  when  she  spoke  of  Van  Dyke.  After 
that  I  had  no  desire  to  talk  organization,  and 
for  a  few  minutes  I  lost  the  thread  of  Froth- 
ingham's  narrative.  I  '11  go  on  with  it,  how- 
ever, at  the  point  where  I  picked  it  up  again. 

"  I  had  been  thinking  about  all  these  things 
quite  a  while,"  he  was  saying,  "  when  one  day 
I  said  to  Mrs.  Frothingham  that  no  matter 
how  much  these  fellows  knocked  me,  I 

229 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

did  n't  mean  to  be  held  down  by  enemies  and 
jealousies. 

"  '  I  suppose,'  said  I,  ( that  I  run  some  risk 
of  crowding  myself  in  too  fast,  but  I  don't 
think  there  's  a  great  deal  of  danger  so  long 
as  I  show  that  I  'm  vitally  interested  in  the 
road  —  that  I  'm  not  a  mere  crank.  And  just 
as  soon  as  I  feel  that  the  men  over  me  no  longer 
want  ideas  which  I  know  to  be  sound  to  the 
core,  I  '11  quit  my  job  and  look  for  one  on  some 
other  railroad.' 

"  I  was  promoted  sooner  than  I  expected  to 
the  position  of  division  superintendent.  It 
was  now  up  to  me,  as  my  wife  put  it,  to  get 
out  of  the  turnip  class  and  parade  myself  as  a 
cabbage  in  the  turnip  patch.  I  was  n't  long  in 
doing  this,  for  I  had  seen  very  clearly  the  chief 
faults  in  the  organization  under  me.  This 
was  especially  true  of  the  station-masters, 
station-agents,  baggage-agents,  train-dispatch- 
ers, operators,  levermen,  and  other  minor  but 
really  important  cogs  in  our  operating  ma- 
chine. A  good  deal  of  attention  had  been 
given  to  larger  matters  and  not  enough  to 
lesser  ones.  I  have  always  gone  on  the  theory 
that  the  little  things  make  the  big  betterments. 

230 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD    ROUTE 

"  There  were  a  good  many  divisions  on  our 
road,  and  I  got  very  well  acquainted  with  all 
the  division  superintendents.  Here,  too,  was 
a  lamentable  sameness.  Of  course,  when  there 
is  no  particular  choice,  chance  usually  must 
determine  the  selection  of  a  man  for  advance- 
ment. Each  one  of  these  division  superinten- 
dents wanted  to  be  advanced,  and  pulled  his 
wires  accordingly.  Not  one  of  them,  however, 
pulled  the  wires  as  I  was  doing.  The  more 
common  way  was  to  work  along  the  lines  of 
personal  friendship.  My  way  was  to  deliver 
more  goods  to  the  company  than  any  of  my 
associates. 

"  But  pretty  soon  I  began  to  see  that  I  was 
really  running  into  the  danger  of  which  I  had 
spoken  to  my  wife  —  I  was  crowding  the  thing 
rather  hard.  In  reorganizing  the  staff  under 
me  and  tightening  the  lines  all  through,  I 
was  doing  many  things  that  lacked  prec- 
edent. From  long  practice  in  the  art  of 
analysis  I  had  come,  almost  unconsciously, 
to  be  original. 

"  Our  road  at  that  time,  for  instance,  placed 
the  levermen  and  tower-repairmen  directly 
under  the  supervision  of  the  master  mechanic 

231 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

of  the  division.  I  removed  these  workers  from 
the  master  mechanic's  direct  command  and 
placed  them  under  the  chief  operator.  I  cre- 
ated a  new  position  —  that  of  general  foreman 
of  locomotives  —  and  thus  took  from  the  mas- 
ter mechanic  another  phase  of  his  immediate 
power.  In  other  instances  I  recast  the  scheme 
of  organization  and  drew  up  exacting  and  defi- 
nite outlines  of  duties. 

"  All  this  stirred  up  a  lot  of  opposition 
under  me  and  unpleasant  comment  on  the  part 
of  other  division  superintendents.  Some  of 
them  were  fair  enough  to  concede  that  I  was 
working  along  the  right  lines,  but  others 
knocked  me  hard,  declaring  that  I  was  merely 
trying  to  make  myself  strong  without  really 
accomplishing  anything  for  the  company.  I 
had  always  been  a  four-flusher,  they  said,  and 
had  secured  my  advancements  that  way. 

"  I  was  pretty  well  used  to  this  sort  of  thing 
—  and  so  long  as  I  had  the  general  superin- 
tendent with  me,  as  I  did  have,  I  was  n't 
worried ;  but  just  about  that  time  the  general 
superintendent  resigned  to  become  general 
manager  of  another  road. 

"  The  new  general  superintendent  was  re- 
232 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

cruited  from  outside.  In  those  days  we  were 
sadly  remiss  in  developing  our  own  organiza- 
tions. I,  of  course,  felt  that  some  one  of  the 
division  superintendents  should  have  been  ad- 
vanced or,  at  least,  that  the  vacancy  ought  to 
have  been  filled  from  among  our  own  execu- 
tives. To-day  the  tendency  is  strong  in  that 
direction;  and  the  closer  the  management 
hews  to  the  principle  of  self-perpetuation,  the 
better  the  results.  Down  in  my  heart  I  felt 
that  I  was  entitled  to  the  job  and  capable  of 
filling  it.  I  had  more  logical  reasons  for  this 
belief  than  some  of  the  other  division  super- 
intendents had  for  expecting  advancement. 

"  For  a  time  things  went  very  badly  with 
me.  It  looked  as  if  my  philosophy  were  all 
wrong  —  that  being  a  cabbage  in  a  turnip 
patch  was  about  the  worst  possible  policy. 
The  other  division  superintendents  were  all 
inconspicuous  chaps,  without  any  pronounced 
ideas ;  and  now,  with  a  new  chief  over  them, 
they  hunted  their  holes,  as  it  were.  Every 
one  of  them  was  afraid  to  draw  attention  to 
himself,  lest  he  be  discovered  and  fired.  My 
friends  advised  me  to  subside  and  quit  stirring 
up  new  problems  to  worry  the  management 

233 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  '  It  looks  to  me,'  I  said  to  my  wife  one  day, 
1  that  it 's  pretty  nearly  time  to  put  that  threat 
of  mine  into  execution.  I  Ve  either  got  to 
quit  my  job  or  else  metamorphose  myself  back 
into  a  turnip.  My  enemies  have  been  busy 
on  the  general  superintendent,  and  he 's 
turned  against  me.  He  is  n't  familiar  with 
my  history  and  he 's  not  in  touch  with  my 
ideas.  He  's  upsetting  the  new  scheme  of  or- 
ganization I  Ve  been  trying  to  install  on  my 
division  and  he  won't  listen  to  me.' 

"  '  Then  you  'd  better  quit  at  once,'  she 
advised. 

"  Next  day,  while  I  was  still  thinking  about 
this  advice,  the  master  mechanic  came  into  my 
office.  He  showed  me  an  order  from  the  gen- 
eral superintendent  restoring  the  levermen  to 
his  immediate  command.  This  bit  of 
paper  he  thrust  under  my  nose  in  an  insulting 
manner  and  remarked :  '  Here  's  one  of  your 
crazy  schemes  exploded  —  and  it  is  n't  the 
last!' 

"  So  this,  then,  was  a  fine  example  of  the 
organization  I  had  created  so  studiously  and 
with  sole  regard  for  the  company's  benefit! 
This  was  what  I  got  for  parading  as  a  cabbage 

234 


SUCCESS;    RAILROAD    ROUTE 

when  I  might  have  gone  along  very  comfort- 
ably as  a  turnip,  without  attracting  any 
attention. 

"  However,  it  was  too  late  now  to  crawl  into 
my  hole,  even  had  I  felt  so  disposed.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  I  never  had  felt  less  like  it  in 
all  my  life.  I  am  something  of  a  fighter  in 
more  ways  than  one.  Thanks  to  the  new  gen- 
eral superintendent,  my  house  was  crumbling 
about  me;  but  I  was  more  confident  than  ever 
that  I  was  right.  I  knew  I  had  goods  to  sell 
that  had  a  high  market  value;  every  man  of 
ability  has  salable  goods  these  days.  Execu- 
tive ability  is  at  a  premium;  but  no  man  ever 
sold  his  ability  at  its  value  by  crawling  into  a 
hole. 

"  The  master  mechanic,  however,  did  crawl 
into  the  gloom.  He  was  a  big  chap  and  rather 
muscular  —  but  so  was  I.  Before  he  knew 
what  was  happening  I  had  him  by  the  slack 
in  his  trousers  and  by  the  neck,  and  literally 
threw  him  downstairs. 

"  *  Now  go  ahead  with  your  underhanded 
work! '  I  called  after  him  as  I  heard  him  hit 
the  lower  landing.  *  But  before  you  begin  it, 
just  go  round  to  the  paymaster  and  get  your 

235 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

money.  You  're  no  longer  in  the  employ  of 
my  division.' 

"  That  night  I  got  aboard  the  Limited  and 
went  up  to  general  headquarters.  Next  day 
the  general  superintendent  and  I  had  it  out 
The  general  manager  came  into  the  superin- 
tendent's office  in  the  thick  of  it,  accompanied 
by  the  first  vice-president,  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  operating  department  of  the  whole 
system. 

"  There  was  nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  per- 
sonal quarrel,  but  I  confess  that  I  reviewed 
with  some  heat  the  existing  situation.  I  told 
trie  general  superintendent  that  I  had  almost 
decided,  at  the  time  the  master  mechanic 
caused  the  scene  in  my  office,  to  resign.  I  re- 
peated what  I  had  said  to  my  wife  about  quit- 
ting rather  than  stultify  my  ability  to  serve  the 
railroad. 

"  *  But,  sir,'  I  went  on,  *  I  have  changed  my 
mind  about  resigning.  If  I  quit  this  railroad 
I  quit  it  under  discharge.  I  go  down  fighting. 
And  if  I  remain  I  shall  claim  the  right  to  use 
my  brains  in  every  possible  way  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  company.  I  shall  not  force  my  ideas 
on  you,  sir,  but  I  shall  not  have  you  say  to  me 

236 


9 
X 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

that  you  don't  want  any  ideas.  I  shall  not 
have  you  treat  me  in  utter  contempt,  as  you 
did  when  you  countermanded  my  orders 
and  sent  the  master  mechanic  to  disrupt  the 
organization.' 

"  Then  I  calmed  down  somewhat,  as  he 
grew  purple  in  the  face,  and  outlined  for  him 
my  scheme  of  what  a  railroad  organization 
ought  to  be.  I  showed  him  where  a  hundred 
opportunities  for  profit  lay  concealed  even  in 
the  most  lowly  switchman  or  shopclerk.  I 
gave  him  my  reasons  for  recasting  the  organi- 
zation as  I  had  done  it,  and  explained  what  I 
hoped  to  accomplish,  in  the  future  if  I  re- 
mained. I  was  not  doing  all  this  specialized, 
laborious  thinking  for  my  own  amusement, 
I  assured  him.  I  was  doing  it  to  make  my 
division  the  ideal  one. 

"  The  first  vice-president  and  the  general 
manager  heard  all  this  without  interfering. 
When  I  was  through  the  general  superin- 
tendent arose  and,  to  my  astonishment,  offered 
me  his  hand. 

"  *  You  have  put  the  whole  problem  of  rail- 
roading in  a  new  light,'  he  said.  *  I  confess 
that  I  did  n't  understand  you.  I  had  heard 

23? 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

only  the  other  side  of  the  thing.  Hereafter 
you  and  I  will  work  in  harmony  for  the  benefit 
of  the  road.'  He  was  really  a  broad-gauge 
man  who  had  been  led  astray  by  designing 
men. 

"  When  I  told  my  wife  about  all  this  she 
laughed  in  a  way  that  was  almost  hysterical. 
I  could  n't  just  make  out  what  she  was  laugh- 
ing at  until  she  sputtered :  '  John,  for  a  cab- 
bagehead,  you  're  certainly  all  right! ' 

"  A  couple  of  years  later,  when  the  general 
superintendent  was  made  general  superin- 
tendent of  transportation,  I  knew  that  I  was 
slated  to  succeed  him.  There  was  n't  another 
division  superintendent  on  the  line  who  had 
the  ghost  of  a  chance,  though  several  of  them 
thought  they  did,  and  howled  '  favoritism ' 
when  I  sat  down  at  the  general  superintend- 
ent's desk. 

"  It  was  now  about  a  decade  since  I  rose 
above  my  brakeman's  job,  after  my  five  years 
of  stagnation  there.  Every  step  in  my  ad- 
vancement I  could  trace  to  the  definite  phi- 
losophy I  had  been  following  —  the  philoso- 
phy which  urged  me  on  continually  to  get 
above  the  common  level  in  whatever  I  under- 

238 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

took.  At  heart,  I  was  not  conceited  enough  to 
believe  that  I  possessed  any  wonderful  talents 
beyond  those  of  my  fellows.  I  had  walked  up 
over  a  lot  of  them  only  because  I  had  con- 
sciously set  myself  apart  from  them.  I  had 
done  this,  too,  in  ways  that  invariably  drew 
the  attention  of  those  who  must  advance  me. 
It  had  all  been  a  great  game  with  me,  studied 
out  with  as  much  labor  as  if  I  had  been  playing 
a  long  game  of  chess  with  big  stakes.  The 
hardest  thing  about  it  was  the  everlasting  diffi- 
culty of  holding  it  down  to  the  fundamental 
principle  that,  no  matter  how  I  made  myself 
conspicuous,  it  must  be  in  some  manner  that 
benefited  my  employers  primarily  and  not 
myself.  I  often  had  to  strangle  the  temptation 
to  do  otherwise." 

"  That 's  the  philosophy  of  success  —  the 
true  philosophy!"  cried  Barnes,  and  in  his 
emphasis  he  leaned  forward  and  accidentally 
burned  my  hand  with  his  cigar. 

"  The  very  thing  that  makes  men  go  up! " 
confirmed  Hopkins.  "  A  man  must  make  his 
employer  want  him,  and  want  to  advance  him. 
He  must  give  his  employer  more  than  value 
received." 

239 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  Perhaps  somewhat  selfishly,"  resumed 
Frothingham,  "  I  kept  still  about  having  a 
philosophy.  You  see,  I  did  n't  want  to  have 
a  lot  of  fellows  imitating  me.  I  had  a  magic 
powder  —  to  use  the  language  of  the  fairy 
story  —  which  I  sprinkled  before  me  in  the 
path  that  led  always  higher  and  higher.  If  I 
gave  away  the  ingredients  of  that  powder  I  'd 
find  other  chaps  elbowing  me  aside.  Well, 
I  'm  high  enough  now  so  that  I  don't  care. 

"  And  yet  I  often  wondered,  and  do  wonder 
to-day,  that  men  are  so  blind  about  these  mat- 
ters. Success  lies  in  being  different  from  the 
fellows  about  you.  Anybody  ought  to  see  that. 
Perhaps  most  people  do  see  it  in  the  abstract, 
but  they  can't  analyze  the  thing  into  any  defi- 
nite philosophy  of  action.  They  are  not  will- 
ing to  knuckle  down  to  the  hard,  grubbing  de- 
tail and  planning  necessary  to  work  the  thing 
out  as  I  worked  it. 

"  My  success  has  been  a  constant  building 
of  brick  upon  brick,  each  brick  selected  with 
the  one  object  in  view.  If  I  were  to  start  again 
to-day  as  a  young  man,  possessing  the  philos- 
ophy of  succeeding  as  I  do  now  possess  it,  I  'd 
be  willing  to  guarantee  that  I  'd  walk  up 

240 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

mighty  fast  in  any  line  of  business,  whether  it 
were  railroading  or  merchandising,  contract- 
ing or  manufacturing. 

'  Well,  now  that  I  was  up  among  the  cab- 
bages, I  followed  my  habitual  policy.  '  Mary, 
what  would  be  most  conspicuous  in  a  cabbage 
field?  '  I  asked  as  I  carved  the  roast  one  day, 
soon  after  my  appointment  as  general  superin- 
tendent. We  had  moved  again  and  were  now 
living  in  a  metropolitan  apartment,  which 
mode  of  life  was  not  altogether  to  my  liking. 
It  did  not  seem  homelike  or  just  the  sort  of 
place  in  which  to  bring  up  the  children.  Al- 
ready I  was  itching  to  get  along  higher. 

"  l  Well,'  returned  my  wife,  as  she  fastened 
the  bib  about  the  neck  of  our  youngest,  *  I  sup- 
pose, John,  that  a  pumpkin  would  attract  the 
most  attention  —  or  perhaps  a  squash.' 

"  *  A  pumpkin  has  a  better  shape  than  a 
squash,'  said  I;  l  so  I  reckon  I  '11  perform  in 
the  cabbage  field  as  a  big  yellow  pumpkin. 
Perhaps  some  of  these  railroad  presidents 
about  the  country  will  see  me  and  pick  me.' 

"Thereupon  I  proceeded  to  broaden  my 
scheme  for  welding  our  whole  operating  de- 
partment into  a  closely-knit  organization,  re- 

241 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

modeled  and  strengthened  at  every  weak  spot 
I  could  study  out.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  I 
was  in  a  position  really  to  look  for  high-grade 
executive  ability  and  not  mere  mechanical 
ability.  Instead  of  doing  most  of  the  detailed 
thinking  myself,  as  I  had  done  up  to  this  point, 
I  ferreted  out  men  who  could  think  and 
showed  them  how  to  do  it.  I  applied  this 
scheme  even  to  the  station-agents  and  section- 
gangs.  I  impressed  upon  everybody  under  me 
that  our  railroad  must  be  better  and  more 
profitable  than  other  railroads  —  a  sort  of 
pumpkin  among  cabbages. 

"  Before  a  year  had  passed,  I  received  a  tel- 
egram asking  if  I  would  accept  the  second 
vice-presidency  of  a  railroad  that  touched  the 
Far  West.  The  salary  almost  staggered  me. 
I  knew  there  was  no  present  vacancy  on  my 
own  line  that  could  offer  such  an  inducement; 
so  I  wired  back  that  I  would  take  the  job  if  the 
company  would  let  me  have  free  swing  with 
my  ideas  of  railroading. 

"  This,  as  I  had  surmised,  was  just  what  the 
company  wanted  me  for,  and  we  closed  the 
bargain.  I  went  to  my  new  post  as  chief  of 
operation  and  transportation." 

242 


SUCCESS;   RAILROAD   ROUTE 

"  Since  that  time,"  observed  Hopkins,  as 
Frothingham  remained  silent  a  minute,  "  you 
have  had  rather  free  swing  with  your  ideas,  I 
imagine." 

There  was  a  general  laugh  at  this.  Froth- 
ingham certainly  was  on  top  in  railroading. 

"  I  have,"  he  assented,  "  because  my  ideas 
were  sound.  A  man  who  once  demonstrates 
his  ideas  to  be  thoroughly  safe  and  progres- 
sive, can  usually  swing  as  free  as  he  pleases. 
Now,  gentlemen,  it  is  past  midnight.  Let  me 
conclude  very  briefly.  My  first  venture  in 
railroad  ownership  was  when  I  purchased, 
with  the  backing  of  a  syndicate  of  capitalists, 
a  small  Southern  railroad  that  had  been  sadly 
mismanaged.  I  had  seen  great  possibilities  in 
the  property,  because  it  formed  a  logical  link 
in  a  chain  between  the  point  of  supply  and  that 
of  consumption.  It  —  " 

"  Permit  me  to  say,"  interrupted  Barnes, 
"  that  many  a  business  house  stands  to-day  as 
a  logical  link  of  this  sort,  yet  is  so  badly  mis- 
managed that  it  might  be  bought  for  a  song. 
If  I  recollect  right,  you  bought  this  Southern 
railroad  at  a  very  low  price." 

"  I  did;  but  to-day  I  would  not  sell  it  at  a 
243 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

very  high  price.  I  have  developed  the  possi- 
bilities within  it;  I  have  completed  the  chain. 
My  success,  gentlemen  —  and  ladies,  as  well," 
added  Frothingham,  glancing  about  the  car 
with  a  smile,  "  has  been  due  to  my  policy  of 
developing  possibilities  wherever  I  saw  them 
available  to  me.  And  let  me  repeat  that  suc- 
cess, after  all,  is  merely  the  working  out  of  a 
definite  philosophy.  Varying  conditions,  of 
course,  will  have  more  or  less  effect;  but  no 
conditions,  short  of  mental  or  physical  inabil- 
ity, can  hold  a  man  down  if  he  really  goes 
about  rising." 


244 


CHAPTER  XI 

IN  AN  AVALANCHE 

THE  next  morning,  soon  after  breakfast, 
the  top  of  a  mountain  fell  off  and  came 
down  the  slope  upon  us.  The  locomo- 
tive was  crushed  and  buried  out  of  sight,  and 
its  brave  engineer,  as  well  as  the  fireman,  met 
the  tragic  fate  that  comes  at  times  to  men  who 
do  and  dare.  The  baggage  and  mail  cars,  too, 
were  demolished  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  crew 
killed  or  injured  in  the  avalanche.  Fate  was 
kind  to  the  remainder  of  us;  not  so  much  as  a 
scratch  did  we  get. 

I  often  think  that  the  death  I  should  like  to 
meet,  when  my  time  comes,  is  to  die  in  the  ser- 
vice of  others.  No  mere  monument  of  stone 
can  glorify  a  man's  name,  but  the  man  who 
perishes  at  his  post  needs  no  other  shaft.  This 
heroic  engineer  of  the  Limited  might  have  es- 
caped. He  saw  the  avalanche  coming,  and 

245 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

could  have  abandoned  his  cab  and  run  back  up 
the  grade  to  safety.  Instead,  he  attempted  to 
get  the  train  through  the  danger,  and  to- 
day his  wife  and  children  have  the  solace 
of  remembering  him  as  a  man  who  preferred 
death  to  cowardice.  And  the  fireman,  no 
doubt  inspired  by  his  courage,  went  to  death 
with  him. 

So  there  we  stayed  all  one  day,  until  at  night 
the  rescuers  had  dug  away  the  great  mass  of 
earth  and  snow,  relaid  the  track,  and  thus 
opened  a  path  again  through  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada Mountains.  The  sleeping  cars  and  the 
observation-smoker  were  not  damaged,  and 
soon  another  engine  was  hauling  us  through 
the  night  on  our  way  to  the  Pacific. 

There  had  been  no  success-tales  that  day, 
and  no  one  was  in  the  mood  after  dinner  to 
bring  up  the  subject.  In  fact,  the  smoker  was 
a  place  now  given  up  chiefly  to  solitude.  The 
women  in  the  Pullman  cars  forward  were  ex- 
cited and  nervous;  and  the  men,  for  the  most 
part,  remained  with  them.  Therefore  I, 
being  a  bachelor,  smoked  in  moody  silence, 
while  my  thoughts  roved  —  well,  no  matter! 
And  then  that  confounded  astral  Van  Dyke 

246 


IN    AN   AVALANCHE 

came  into  the  smoker  and  insolently  seated 
himself  before  me,  deliberately  turning  a 
chair  so  that  he  might  face  me.  I  have  always 
trained  myself  in  habits  of  intense  concentra- 
tion, and  perhaps  this  was  why  the  scene  was 
so  real  to  me,  though  it  was  only  a  figment  of 
imagination. 

"  Good  evening,  Gaylord,"  said  the  shade. 

"  Good  evening,"  said  I,  striving  to  be 
polite. 

"  I  am  glad  I  Ve  found  you  alone,"  the  fel- 
low went  on,  and  I  saw  his  eyes  gleam  at  me; 
"  I  Ve  been  wanting  all  day  to  ask  you  a  ques- 
tion, but  I  scarcely  had  the  opportunity.  You 
and  Miss  Dorothy  Dowe  were  hardly  apart 
long  enough." 

This,  I  knew,  was  quite  true.  "  Your  sense 
of  observation  is  excellent,"  I  returned, 
smiling. 

"  Thank  you  for  the  compliment,"  said  he, 
but  I  saw  his  lips  quiver  in  anger.  "  Now  this 
question  - 

"Ask  a  dozen  if  you  please,"  I  broke  in; 
"  but  I  '11  not  promise  to  answer  them." 

"  There  is  one  question,  and  one  only,"  he 
returned,  and  I  could  see  that  his  temper  was 

247 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

getting  the  best  of  him.  "  I  wish  to  know  your 
intentions  concerning  Miss  Dorothy  Dowe." 

I  can  look  back  now  to  that  moment  and  see 
the  whole  scene  over  again,  just  as  I  saw  it 
then.  What  a  wonderful  thing  is  imagina- 
tion! Barnes  is  right  when  he  says  that  busi- 
ness cannot  succeed  without  it.  Imagination 
has  built  all  the  marvels  of  the  present  era. 
They  are  nothing  but  imagination  made  real 
through  men's  efforts.  And  years  ago  I  saw 
in  my  dreams  the  present-day  store  of  Munn, 
Moorehouse  &  Gaylord;  I  saw  it  in  my 
visions  quite  as  plainly  as  you  may  see  it  your- 
self when  you  go  to  New  York.  So,  after  all, 
this  fictitious  duel  of  words  with  Van  Dyke 
was  only  human  nature. 

Now  up  to  that  moment  my  intentions  were 
not  thoroughly  codified,  but  the  question  put 
by  Van  Dyke's  shadow  filled  me  with  instant 
purpose. 

"  My  intentions  regarding  Miss  Dowe,"  I 
said,  "  are  to  marry  her  if  I  can.  Now  be 
good  enough,  sir,  to  cease  addressing  me! " 

He  arose  rather  stiffly,  as  if  stunned,  and  for 
a  moment  stood  glowering  down  upon  me. 
Then  he  reached  over  and  put  a  hand  on  my 

248 


IN   AN   AVALANCHE 

shoulder.  In  an  instant  I  was  on  my  feet,  with 
fists  clenched.  But  instead  of  looking  into  the 
face  of  the  imaginary  Van  Dyke,  I  looked  into 
the  eyes  of  my  friend  Greenleaf.  Van  Dyke 
had  vanished  in  the  smoke  from  the  latter's 
cigar. 

"  I  did  n't  mean  to  startle  you,"  he  laughed, 
seeing  the  look  on  my  face.  "  I  saw  you  here 
asleep,  and  I  feared  your  cigar  would  set  fire 
to  your  clothing.  See!  I  have  just  picked  it 
out  of  a  fold  in  your  waistcoat." 

I  thanked  him,  and  we  sat  down  together. 
"  Greenleaf,"  said  I,  somewhat  abruptly, 
when  I  had  accepted  the  fresh  cigar  he  offered 
me,  "  do  you  know  anything  about  Hooten 
Van  Dyke  of  New  York?  " 

"  I  know  of  him  —  through  the  news- 
papers," he  answered,  eying  me  curiously; 
"  and  I  believe  I  have  heard  Miss  Dowe  speak 
of  him  a  number  of  times  within  the  last  day 
or  two." 

"  Have  you  ever  seen  anything  in  the  news- 
papers," I  insisted,  "  concerning  a  possible 
alliance  between  the  Dowe  and  Van  Dyke 
families?  " 

Greenleaf  grew  thoughtful  for  a  moment; 
249 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

then  I  saw  a  sparkle  in  his  eyes.  "  It  seems  to 
me  that  I  have,"  he  returned.  "  I  can't  just 
be  sure  of  it,  Gaylord,  but  somehow  I  have 
that  impression.  And  you  know  that  Miss 
Dowe  seems  to  admire  him  —  perhaps  you  Ve 
observed  that  yourself." 

I  must  have  looked  rather  black  for  a  mo- 
ment, for  Greenleaf  bent  forward  with  a  laugh 
and  put  his  hand  on  my  knee.  "  You  're  on  the 
job,"  he  said ;  "  Hooten  Van  Dyke  is  far  away. 
And  even  were  he  here,  Gaylord,  I  don't  be- 
lieve you  'd  lack  courage  to  meet  him  on  com- 
mon ground.  Miss  Dorothy  Dowe  is  a  young 
woman  worth  fighting  for,  and  you  are  a  man 
who  knows  how  to  fight!  " 

Yes,  I  did  know  how  to  fight.  Since  I  en- 
tered the  employ  of  Munn  &  Moorehouse  as 
a  boy,  no  man  has  ever  found  me  lacking  in 
courage — I  say  it  proudly.  Had  I  lacked 
courage,  that  fatherless  and  motherless  brood 
at  home  would  have  starved  and  frozen,  I 
fear.  The  grim  figures  that  blocked  my  way 
daily  would  have  backed  me  down  the  narrow 
aisle  of  discouragement  long  before  I  had  op- 
portunity to  become  a  Junior  Partner  in  the 
reorganized  firm  of  Munn,  Moorehouse  & 

250 


IN    AN   AVALANCHE 

Gaylord.  And  afterward  the  ogres  and  drag- 
ons and  serpents  of  business  would  have  van- 
quished me  —  had  I  lacked  courage! 

So  I  took  Greenleaf  by  the  hand  soberly  and 
thanked  him  for  what  he  had  said.  "  All  men 
have  moments  when  they  falter,"  I  told  him, 
"  but  my  lapse  has  been  brief.  Believe  me,  I 
am  Huntington  Gaylord  once  more." 


251 


CHAPTER  XII 

REAL  ESTATE  WOODCHUCKS 

"AT  the  age  of  twenty-one,"  said  Mont- 
yV  gomery  Gale,  "  I  made  up  my  mind 
I  was  on  the  wrong  track  in  life. 
My  job  as  cashier  in  a  New  York  cab  office 
did  not  appeal  to  me.  I  wanted,  more  than 
anything  else,  to  engage  in  some  pursuit  in 
which  I  could  map  out  a  definite  course.  Un- 
derlying this  ambition,  I  might  add,  was 
another  motive  —  Well,  you  know  how  it  is 
with  a  young  chap  in  love." 

Mr.  Gale  thus  began  his  story  on  the  morn- 
ing following  my  talk  with  Greenleaf.  We 
had  left  Sacramento  and  our  journey  was 
drawing  to  a  close  at  the  rate  of  perhaps  fifty 
miles  an  hour.  Gale's  success-story  and  my 
own  still  remained  to  be  told.  I  confess  I  was 
considerably  disturbed  at  the  thought  of  relat- 
ing my  narrative  before  the  audience  that  now 

252 


WOODCHUCKS 

filled  the  observation  smoker  to  its  utmost  ca- 
pacity. It  seemed  as  if  most  of  the  passengers 
on  the  Limited  were  trying  to  crowd  into  that 
rear  car  in  order  to  hear  the  two  final  stories. 
Yet  I  looked  about  in  vain  for  Miss  Dorothy, 
and  I  confess  that  my  disappointment  was 
keen.  I  wanted  her  to  hear  these  two  final 
narratives  —  my  own  especially.  It  was  a 
tale  so  vastly  different  from  Van  Dyke's  that 
I  was  sure  she  would  feel  its  significance. 
Now  I  rubbed  my  cheek  ruefully  as  Gale 
spoke  of  being  in  love. 

"  Like  most  young  men,"  he  continued,  "  I 
had  no  capital.  Like  many  young  men,  I  was 
impatient  to  be  my  own  master.  This,  I 
thought,  meant  freedom. 

"  Having  no  money,  I  looked  about  for 
something  I  might  sell  on  commission.  I 
selected  real  estate  because  I  had  a  slight 
knowledge  of  that  field,  gained  from  a  clerk- 
ship in  an  insurance  office.  Furthermore,  real 
estate  seemed  a  substantial  commodity  which 
all  people  had  to  use  and  many  persons  bought 
and  sold.  The  man  who  undertakes  to  sell 
goods  should  be  sure  he  's  got  something  that 
has  a  market  worth  going  after.  The  other 

253 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

day  a  canvasser  came  to  my  house  and  offered 
me  sachet  powder.  Now  that  fellow  was  as 
far  off  the  selling  track  as  a  lot  of  other  men 
I  know.  With  the  public  eager  to  give  up  its 
money  for  goods  worth  while,  they  go  down 
to  failure  trying  to  butt  against  the  greatest 
resistance. 

"  After  repeated  failures  to  connect  myself 
with  some  downtown  real-estate  office  I  made 
arrangements  with  a  broker  well  up  toward 
Harlem.  Later,  I  discovered  that  he  took 
me  only  because  he  was  in  desperate  straits; 
he  could  n't  afford  to  overlook  even  a  forlorn 
hope  of  commissions.  He  agreed  to  furnish 
me  his  lists  and  pay  me  one-third  of  the  fees 
I  might  bring  the  office. 

"  The  property  we  had  for  sale  consisted 
chiefly  of  second-class  apartment  houses,  built 
for  speculation.  These  I  tried  to  sell  to  men 
who  had  more  or  less  money  —  and  perhaps 
a  minimum  of  real-estate  intelligence.  My 
employer  furnished  me  an  indifferent  list  of 
such  men,  and  for  two  months  I  canvassed 
them  without  getting  even  a  nibble.  Of  course 
we  had  a  few  excellent  bargains  on  our  lists, 
but  I  could  make  no  headway  even  with  these. 

254 


WOODCHUCKS 

Meanwhile  I  borrowed  a  few  hundred  dollars 
from  an  old  college  chum  who  had  a  rich  dad. 
This  fund,  however,  oozed  away  in  living  ex- 
penses—  and  the  glamour  of  the  real-estate 
business  stopped  glamouring. 

"  Now  here  at  the  start  was  something  radi- 
cally wrong.  I  want  to  make  this  emphatic, 
because  upon  it  hinges  the  first  underlying  ele- 
ment of  success  in  real-estate  brokerage  —  and 
in  many  other  commodities  as  well.  All  goods 
may  be  roughly  divided  into  two  classes. 
Merchants  who  sell  the  first  class  can  catch 
their  customers  in  the  open.  Take  groceries, 
for  instance.  The  householder  can  always  be 
reached  because  he  's  in  plain  sight  all  the 
time.  But  merchants  who  sell  the  second  class 
must  get  down  and  dig  out  their  prospects. 

"  When  I  was  a  boy  on  the  farm  I  used  to 
dig  out  woodchucks.  If  I  could  n't  get  them 
out  with  pick  and  spade  I  'd  haul  several  bar- 
rels of  water  into  the  field  on  a  stoneboat  and 
drown  them  out.  When  I  got  them  into  the 
open  the  dog  and  I  made  things  lively  for 
them.  Well,  there  are  millions  of  real-estate 
woodchucks  still  uncaught  in  the  United 
States  to-day.  The  real-estate  broker  must 

255 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

remember,  however,  that  his  breed  of  wood- 
chucks  cannot  be  handled  like  the  four-footed 
kind.  They  Ve  got  to  be  taken  alive  and 
tamed.  The  majority  of  men  who  undertake 
the  real-estate  game  make  a  failure  of  it  be- 
cause they  don't  dig,  in  the  first  place;  and, 
second,  because  they  skin  the  woodchuck  if 
by  any  chance  they  catch  one. 

"  That  was  just  the  trouble  with  me.  I 
didn't  locate  my  prospects  skillfully;  and 
when  I  ran  across  one  I  immediately  went 
after  his  pelt.  The  art  of  locating  possible 
customers  is  a  science  that  holds  untold 
profits;  yet  in  many  lines  of  business  I  see  it 
almost  wholly  neglected.  I  see  concerns  go 
into  bankruptcy  when  they  are  literally  over- 
whelmed with  markets  they  have  n't  touched. 
In  the  real-estate  field  I  know  men  who  look 
rich  markets  in  the  face  every  day  and  see 
nothing!  I  am  going  to  tell  you  briefly  how 
I  worked  the  thing  out  myself;  but  before 
doing  that  I  want  to  say  a  few  words  about  my 
first  nibble  and  the  events  immediately  fol- 
lowing it. 

"  It  looked  like  more  than  a  nibble.  The 
bobber  went  under  and  I  put  through  a  con- 

256 


WOODCHUCKS 

tract  for  the  sale  of  a  thirty-thousand-dollar 
apartment  house.  Commissions  were  higher 
in  those  day^s  and  my  share  of  the  fee  was  to 
be  two  hundred  dollars.  Cab-office  jobs!  I 
rather  thought  not! 

"  The  sale  fell  through,  however.  The  pur- 
chaser discovered  that  we  'd  been  too  opti- 
mistic in  our  view  of  the  property.  Then  in 
our  statement  we  'd  omitted  a  few  items  like 
contingent  vacancies,  special  assessments,  de- 
preciation, and  so  on.  Moreover,  our  pretty 
blue  sketch  showed  a  street-car  survey  past 
the  door,  but  the  intending  purchaser  was  un- 
able to  find  such  survey  recorded  in  the  street- 
railway's  office.  You  see,  the  shrewdness 
is  n't  always  bunched  wholly  in  the  seller. 

"  To  put  it  bluntly,  that  parcel  was  a  gold 
brick.  Gold  bricks  are  bad  goods  to  handle 
in  any  line  of  business,  but  a  lot  of  men  in  the 
selling  game  have  n't  discovered  it.  I  had  n't 
quite  discovered  it  myself.  I  tried  a  few  more 
deals  of  that  sort,  but  I  '11  skip  them  here. 
How  I  pulled  through  that  first  year  I  don't 
just  know.  I  got  an  occasional  commission 
on  sales  and  leaseholds,  but  for  the  most  part 
I  lived  by  the  grace  of  my  friends. 

257 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  One  afternoon,  just  before  closing  time, 
an  old  lady  came  into  the  office  to  ask  for  some 
honest  advice.  The  stenographer  had  gone 
home  and  my  employer  was  out.  Of  course 
our  office  was  n't  a  crooks'  nest  —  we  had  n't 
embezzled  any  money;  but  here  was  a  woman 
— a  woman,  mind  you!  —  with  cash!  On  the 
other  hand,  we  had  real  estate  to  sell! 

"  Undoubtedly  I  needed  a  commission 
badly  enough;  but  that  innocent  old  soul  put 
me  on  my  mettle.  I  had  n't  talked  with  her 
long  before  I  discovered  how  little  she  knew 
about  real  estate  and  the  factors  that  influ- 
ence it.  She  was  contemplating  the  purchase 
of  a  piece  of  business  property  and  she  wished 
the  opinion  of  a  broker  who  had  no  interest 
in  the  transaction.  The  sharks  had  already 
got  a  big  chunk  of  the  estate  left  by  her 
husband. 

"  I  got  her  out  of  the  office  as  quickly  as 
possible  and  sent  her  home  with  the  promise 
that  I  'd  make  an  honest  appraisal  of  the  prop- 
erty next  day.  This  I  really  did.  My  report 
fairly  sizzled  with  honesty.  The  land  was 
badly  situated  from  the  standpoint  of  business 
development — merchants  of  the  better  class 

258 


WOODCHUCKS 

were  migrating  from  the  neighborhood;  un- 
desirable elements  were  invading  the  district 
Altogether,  the  property  that  had  been  recom- 
mended so  highly  to  her  was  a  sham.  By  her- 
self she  had  been  unable  to  perceive  these 
truths. 

"  I  might  have  sold  her  another  undesirable 
parcel  from  my  own  doubtful  list;  but  the 
real-estate  business  had  suddenly  taken  on  a 
new  aspect.  I  saw  the  dawning  of  a  real  op- 
portunity. Here  was  a  person  with  money 
who  needed,  more  than  anything  else,  an  hon- 
est, capable  broker.  l  Why,'  I  asked  myself, 
'  was  it  necessary  to  sell  snide  goods  to  such 
people?  Wasn't  there  legitimate  property 
to  be  had?' 

"  I  set  out  to  find  her  a  bona-fide  investment, 
and  I  did  find  one.  This  led  to  the  adoption 
of  a  new  policy  on  my  part;  I  resolved  there- 
after to  hunt  out  goods  that  had  real  value  and 
markets  that  I  could  swing  accordingly. 

"  Let  me  say,  parenthetically,  that  this  is 
the  great  field  for  the  real-estate  broker  to- 
day. The  nation  is  full  of  people  with  real 
estate  and  with  money.  Two-thirds  of  them 
don't  know  how  to  handle  their  property  or 

259 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

how  to  invest  their  funds.  For  every  person 
with  capital  there  are  a  hundred  sharpers. 
The  ordinary  real-estate  ranks  are  over- 
crowded, but  there  is  a  big  demand  for  brokers 
and  agents  who  will  unmask  the  gold  bricks 
and  give  their  clients  advice  as  sound  as  a 
banker's.  It  is  the  men  who  do  this 
that  get  up  in  the  real-estate  business.  So 
there  are  two  fundamentals  on  which  I  am 
basing  these  observations:  First,  dig  out 
your  customers;  second,  educate  them  or 
guide  them." 

"  Digging  out  customers  is  an  art  by  itself," 
commented  Barnes.  "  Our  friend  Greenleaf 
here,  I  imagine,  would  find  more  real-estate 
woodchucks,  were  he  to  go  into  the  business, 
than  many  men  long  engaged  in  it  ever 
dreamed  about.  Hunting  woodchucks  is  a 
pursuit  that  ought  to  be  common  to  numerous 
lines  of  business,  but  is  n't." 

"  Woodchucks  are  mean  little  devils  to  un- 
earth," said  Greenleaf;  "  that's  why  a  lot  of 
them  escape.  When  a  thing  is  hard  to  do,  you 
know,  it  is  n't  commonly  done." 

"  Well,"  continued  Gale,  "  I  '11  give  you 
just  a  glimpse  of  how  I  dug  them  out  myself. 

260 


WOODCHUCKS 

I  cut  loose  from  my  Harlem  broker  and  se- 
cured deskroom  in  the  same  neighborhood. 
After  some  further  attempts  to  do  a  miscel- 
laneous real-estate  business,  I  realized  the  ne- 
cessity—  in  a  field  so  vast  as  New  York  — 
of  specializing.  I  determined  to  take  up  sub- 
urban homes  and  home  sites  of  the  better  class, 
holding  strictly  aloof  from  all  boom  schemes. 
My  reason  for  selecting  this  class  of  property 
was  my  conviction  that  a  great  market  lay  con- 
cealed within  the  walls  of  Manhattan  apart- 
ment houses.  I  felt  sure  that  plenty  of  men 
were  living  in  New  York  who  had  both  the 
means  and  the  inclination  to  live  just  outside 
of  it. 

"  I  was  happy  when  I  got  down  to  this 
point,  for  I  was  doing  something  definite. 
That  is  a  big  element  in  success  of  any  sort.  I 
was  through  with  aimless  wandering.  There 
is  a  magic  country  that  hangs  over  the  heads 
of  most  men ;  they  see  it,  though  it  is  above  and 
beyond  them;  but  usually  there  is  a  road  that 
leads  to  it. 

"  To  sell  goods,  one  must  first  get  the  goods 
to  sell.  So  I  spent  several  weeks  listing  prop- 
erty on  which  I  could  get  commissions.  I  vis- 

261 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ited  all  the  desirable  improved  locations  in 
Long  Island,  Jersey,  Westchester,  and  Con- 
necticut. I  wanted  only  the  best  and  most  at- 
tractive, and  I  made  a  point  of  securing  hand- 
some photographs  and,  wherever  possible,  ar- 
chitects' sketches  and  plans. 

"  One  thing  was  disappointing.  The  homes 
that  appealed  most  strongly  to  me  were  not  on 
any  lists ;  they  were  not  being  offered  for  sale. 
So  I  made  up  my  mind  that  this  was  just  the 
property  to  get.  Whenever  I  found  such  a 
place,  I  rang  the  bell  and  asked  the  price  at 
which  the  place  would  be  sold.  In  one  typical 
instance  the  wife  of  the  owner  was  very  em- 
phatic at  first  in  her  declaration  that  the  house 
would  not  be  sold  at  any  price.  It  was  a 
charming  home,  delightfully  situated,  and 
only  a  year  old.  I  expressed  the  belief  that 
she  and  her  husband  could  reap  a  neat  profit 
if  they  should  wish  to  sell,  and  that  they  could 
build  another  home  just  as  pleasant.  Well, 
I  '11  tell  you  in  a  few  minutes  what  came  of  this 
incident. 

"  Having  thus  fortified  myself  with  goods 
worth  selling  to  the  class  of  buyers  I  meant  to 
go  after,  I  was  ready  to  dig  out  the  buyers 

262 


WOODCHUCKS 

themselves  —  the  real-estate  woodchucks,  who 
were  down  in  their  holes. 

"  I  had  no  money  with  which  to  advertise, 
even  had  I  wished  to  start  the  thing  going  that 
way.  I  had  a  scheme  of  a  different  kind.  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  follow  up  certain  classes 
of  men  and  to  eliminate  everybody  else. 
There  was  no  use  wasting  time  on  people  who 
had  n't  the  means  to  buy  such  homes  as  I  had 
for  sale. 

"  How  was  I  to  know?  This  was  a  question 
that  puzzled  me  a  good  deal,  but  I  solved  it  by 
a  simple  method.  From  a  corporation  and 
copartnership  directory  I  secured  lists  of 
names  that  ran  along  in  a  sequence  something 
like  this:  Executives  of  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments ;  executives  of  wholesale  houses ;  re- 
tail dealers;  bankers  and  brokers;  lawyers; 
theatrical  managers;  prominent  actors  and  ac- 
tresses; transportation  men,  and  so  on.  Per- 
sons occupying  such  stations  in  life,  I  reasoned, 
would  have  the  necessary  means. 

"  From  the  city  directory  I  now  secured  the 
home  addresses  of  my  prospects.  Some 
of  them,  I  found,  already  lived  in  the 
suburbs;  but  ninety  per  cent  were  housed  in 

263 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

New  York  apartments.  These  offered  me  my 
field, 

"  New  York  now  meant  something  direct 
and  personal.  I  had  brushed  aside  all  the  con- 
fusing perplexities  of  its  possible  markets  and 
had  opened  up  the  channels  I  meant  to  follow. 
New  York  no  longer  overawed  me ;  I  was  con- 
cerned only  with  my  own  particular  phases  of 
it.  If  more  men  would  get  into  definite  chan- 
nels there  'd  be  less  business  astigmatism.  You 
can  hammer  all  round  your  markets  for  ten 
years  without  making  much  of  an  impression; 
on  the  other  hand,  you  can  often  break  through 
quickly  if  you  hammer  on  the  right  spot. 

"  Next  I  laid  out  my  routes  so  as  to  econo- 
mize time;  then  I  began  to  canvass.  In  some 
places  I  was  turned  down  rather  sharply,  but 
most  of  the  men  on  my  list  received  me  with 
courtesy.  A  charm  lay  in  the  pictures  I  car- 
ried. Many  of  them  were  real  works  of  art, 
beautifully  colored;  and  they  breathed  the 
atmosphere  of  that  magic  word,  home!  I 
often  found  men  willing  to  spend  hours  with 
me,  going  over  the  sketches  and  photographs. 
Most  of  my  prospects  had  been  thinking  more 
or  less  of  getting  homes  some  day.  Their 

264 


ideals  differed  widely,  and  you  may  be  sure 
that  I  recorded  all  the  opinions  and  prefer- 
ences I  got.  I  started  a  card-index  system  and 
within  a  month  was  forced  to  hire  a  stenog- 
rapher. This  came  before  I  made  my  initial 
sale. 

"  The  first  house  I  sold  was  the  one  I  have 
told  you  about.  It  was  bought  by  a  New 
York  manufacturer,  who  paid  sixteen  thou- 
sand dollars  for  it,  regardless  of  the  fact  that 
it  had  cost  only  twelve  thousand  the  year 
preceding.  You  see,  he  wanted  it.  I  had 
been  right  in  my  assumption  that  the  good 
things  would  sell  more  quickly  than  the  gold 
bricks. 

"  Now  here,  you  see,  were  seller  and  buyer 
brought  together  by  original  methods  —  both 
dug  out  of  their  hiding  places.  The  deal 
earned  me  a  fee  of  four  hundred  dollars  and 
stimulated  my  efforts.  I  saw  wonderful  pos- 
sibilities all  round  me  and  I  realized  I  was  on 
the  right  track.  During  the  year  I  made  half 
a  dozen  sales.  Then  I  branched  out  by  en- 
gaging a  salesman,  whom  I  started  out  on  the 
trail  of  wholesale  executives.  In  a  few 
months  I  had  several  salesmen  at  work,  each 

265 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

of  whom  I  kept  in  his  own  channel  of 
customers. 

"  Meanwhile  I  discovered  that  a  good 
many  of  my  prospects  were  not  keen  for  sub- 
urban homes,  but  thought  better  of  city 
houses.  This  let  me  into  a  field  that  ultimately 
proved  very  profitable.  For  a  number  of 
years  I  devoted  myself  to  it  largely,  leaving 
the  suburban  sales  to  the  organization  I  grad- 
ually built  up  about  me. 

"  Right  here  let  me  say  that  an  organiza- 
tion can  swamp  a  business  quicker  than  any- 
thing else  —  unless  it  is  keyed  up  continually 
to  the  pitch  on  which  the  business  is  founded. 
Every  once  in  a  while  I  felt  the  gold-brick 
atmosphere  creeping  in;  and  extra  vigilance 
was  required  to  keep  it  out." 

"  A  business  policy  is  a  hard  thing  to  main- 
tain," Barnes  said.  "  The  head  of  a  business 
is  like  the  director  of  an  orchestra.  Even  the 
first  violinist  will  play  flat  sometimes." 

"  Yes,  and  imagination  is  the  greatest  fault 
of  the  real-estate  office.  I  agree  with  you, 
Mr.  Barnes,  on  the  general  proposition  that 
imagination  of  the  right  sort  is  a  good  thing 
for  the  ordinary  business.  But  in  real  estate 

266 


WOODCHUCKS 

—  well,  once  in  a  while  the  imaginative 
broker  can  make  enough  money  to  retire  him 
on  his  income;  but  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of 
a  hundred  he  retires  without  the  income. 

"  Ever  since  then  we  Ve  kept  up  this  la- 
borious process  of  canvassing,  though  of  re- 
cent years  we  Ve  drawn  in  considerably,  be- 
cause things  came  our  way  anyhow.  I  get 
out  of  patience  when  I  see  brokers  sitting  in 
their  offices  and  waiting  for  people  to  come 
in  and  buy.  I  know  many  real-estate  men 
who  devote  practically  no  energy  to  the  art 
of  digging  out  the  right  kind  of  property  and 
then  matching  it  with  the  right  kind  of  pur- 
chasers. These  things  they  leave  to  chance. 
Of  course  it  is  always  easy  to  find  miscella- 
neous vendors,  and  haphazard  vendees  will 
often  come  when  you  whistle;  but  the  sales 
that  really  build  up  a  business  must  be  worked 
out  by  actual  science. 

"  I  found  a  good  many  ways  to  dig  out  cus- 
tomers. For  instance,  men  and  women  are 
continually  inheriting  property;  hence  the 
surrogate  or  probate  records  are  mo£t  valu- 
able. In  New  York  we  have  a  good 
many  lists  of  names  furnished  us  by  agencies; 

267 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

but  I  'd  like  to  impress  the  fact  on  unsuccess- 
ful real-estate  men  that  mere  lists  are  not 
worth  much.  The  broker  must  get  under  the 
surface.  He  must  classify  the  names  accord- 
ing to  the  kinds  of  property  most  likely  to  find 
a  market,  and  then  he  must  follow  intensive 
methods  in  getting  further  information  about 
prospects  and  in  canvassing  them.  Above  all, 
he  must  offer  them  sound  investments. 

"  To  tell  you  of  all  the  lists  and  records 
I  kept  would  be  impossible,  but  here,  for  ex- 
ample, is  one:  I  kept  a  book  I  called  the  Ad- 
vancement List.  In  it  were  the  names  of  all 
the  better-class  employees  I  could  get  hold  of 
in  the  particular  lines  of  business  I  was  fol- 
lowing up.  At  intervals  of  six  months  or 
oftener,  I  sent  out  men  to  ascertain  the  names 
of  employees  advanced  to  better  positions. 
Then  I  revised  my  lists  in  the  Advancement 
book,  entering  the  favored  names  in  columns 
bearing  such  headings  as  Credit  Man,  Pur- 
chasing Agent,  Department  Manager,  and  so 
on.  In  one  instance  the  chief  cost  clerk  in  a 
large  factory  was  made  general  manager. 
Through  my  system  of  follow-up,  I  dis- 
covered this  important  piece  of  news  and 

268 


WOODCHUCKS 

promptly  recorded  his  name  in  the  list  where 
it  belonged.  You  see,  he  had  become  a  pros- 
pect of  a  wholly  different  character.  As  a 
cost  clerk  his  salary  was  only  one-third  what 
he  received  as  manager. 

"  There  was  n't  another  real-estate  office  in 
New  York  that  had  this  man  on  a  list.  He 
was  my  exclusive  subject  and  I  sold  him  a 
fifteen-thousand-dollar  home.  Afterward  he 
became  president  of  his  corporation;  and, 
on  his  own  account,  he  invested  conservatively 
in  New  York  business  property,  making  a 
great  deal  of  money.  Throughout  he  re- 
mained my  customer. 

"  For  a  long  time  I  kept  a  peculiar  list  that 
I  called  The  Graveyard.  It  comprised  the 
names  of  men  in  poor  health  —  men,  of 
course,  with  means.  Some  of  these  names  I 
got  from  the  newspapers,  some  from  my 
friends,  some  from  the  reports  of  salesmen 
and  canvassers.  When  such  a  name  came  in 
I  classified  it  and  entered  it  on  a  card.  This 
list  panned  out  many  profitable  sales.  One 
day  I  received  a  report  from  one  of  my  men 
to  the  effect  that  a  certain  financier  had  com- 
plained of  insomnia  and  nervous  disorders. 

269 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

Now  the  sea  is  the  place  for  such  men;  this 
man  had  lived  most  of  his  life  in  the  heart  of 
New  York.  I  assembled  a  lot  of  specially 
made  photographs  and  drawings  and  called 
on  my  prospect  in  person.  He  was  in  bad 
humor  when  I  reached  him,  but  the  pictures 
caught  his  attention  quickly.  Ultimately  he 
bought  a  fifty-thousand-dollar  home  on  the 
Long  Island  shore. 

"  I  have  told  you,  of  course,  only  instances 
of  success.  There  were  failures  —  plenty  of 
them.  There  were  discouragements  and 
periods  when  it  seemed  as  if  the  bottom  had 
dropped  out  of  everything;  but  the  markets 
were  always  there,  and  my  aggregate  success 
came  from  everlastingly  digging  them  out. 

"The  markets  are  there  to-day;  they  will 
be  there  next  year  and  next  generation.  The 
real-estate  markets  are  everywhere  —  in  city, 
town,  and  country.  Almost  anywhere  the 
real-estate  broker  goes  he  walks  over  hidden 
woodchucks." 

"  Of  course  every  man  must  be  the  judge  of 
his  own  opportunity,  no  matter  what  business 
he  may  be  in,"  said  Barnes.  "  If  there  are  n't 
any  fish  in  the  water  it  won't  pay  to  go  fishing. 

270 


WOODCHUCKS 

I  'd  advise  every  man,  no  matter  what  his  line 
of  business,  to  .study  his  markets  before  he 
locates.  This  is  a  preliminary  commonly  left 
to  chance.  If  a  fellow  must  fish  all  day  for 
one  shiner  he  'd  better  haul  his  boat  on  the 
bank  and  strike  across  country  to  some  other 
lake;  but  often  the  trouble  lies  in  the  bait, 
not  in  the  lake." 

'You  put  it  well!  Business  success  fol- 
lows certain  general  principles,  regardless 
of  the  particular  goods  handled.  But  I  'm 
speaking  now  of  real  estate.  It 's  important 
in  the  smaller  communities,  just  as  it  is  in  the 
large  cities,  to  classify  the  people  from  whom 
a  broker  expects  to  draw  commissions.  They 
must  be  taken  out  of  the  conglomerate  mass 
of  population,  from  whom  no  profits  are 
probable.  This  accumulation  of  names  and 
the  process  of  keeping  the  lists  up  to  date  give 
a  direction  to  sales  that  cannot  be  secured  in 
any  other  way. 

"  I  know  one  broker  in  a  small  city  who 
carefully  clips  all  the  local  newspapers  in  the 
towns  adjacent;  every  item  that  indicates  a 
possibility  for  a  sale  is  regarded  as  legitimate 
material. 

271 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  Then  he  subdivides  the  different  classes 
of  prospects,  each  class  in  a  separate  card  list. 
School-teachers,  for  example,  comprise  a  list 
that  he  follows  up  conscientiously,  because 
teachers  usually  have  a  little  money  and  are 
buyers  of  the  right  kind  of  real  estate.  Doc- 
tors and  dentists,  he  finds,  are  good  people  to 
have  as  customers,  not  only  on  their  own  ac- 
count but  because  they  are  often  the  confi- 
dential advisers  of  many  persons. 

"  Merchants,  clerks,  bookkeepers  and  work- 
ing men  all  mean  something  different  to 
any  enterprising  broker.  Not  only  does  he 
find  out  the  needs  of  each  class,  but  he  goes 
after  the  individuals  and  makes  a  record  of 
the  ideas  and  preferences  of  every  possible 
prospect.  For  instance,  some  people  in  buy- 
ing a  home  are  influenced  by  architectural 
lines;  others  want  a  square  house  with  an 
attic;  others  a  bedroom  on  the  first  floor,  or 
a  sunny  kitchen,  or  a  music  room.  Yet  I  Ve 
known  brokers  to  dilate  upon  the  charms  of 
a  music  room  when  the  customer  could  n't  tell 
Tannhauser  from  a  tomcat  serenade  on  the 
back  fence.  It 's  important  to  know  your  cus- 
tomers and  then  match  their  wants  the  best 

272 


WOODCHUCKS 

you  can.  This  same  plan  is  followed  by  wise 
brokers  in  city  and  town.  Operators  in  busi- 
ness property  have  their  preferences  and  spe- 
cialties —  and  the  broker  who  knows  what 
button  to  touch  has  the  inside  track. 

"  And  then  there  's  another  angle  to  this 
phase  of  the  game.  Once  you  understand  the 
prospective  customer's  ideas,  you  can  often 
bring  him  round  skillfully  to  see  the  thing  in 
some  other  light. 

"  This  brings  me  squarely  to  the  second 
phase  of  success  in  the  real-estate  business, 
which  I  have  already  told  you  lies  in  the  edu- 
cation and  guidance  of  customers.  I  know 
one  broker  whose  principal  owned  two  lots, 
side  by  side  —  on  one  he  intended  to  build  a 
livery  stable;  the  other  he  wanted  to  sell. 
The  broker  knew  all  about  the  contemplated 
livery,  but  he  kept  his  mouth  shut  and  found 
a  customer.  He  did  n't  believe  in  education; 
but  this  is  the  sort  of  thing  that  commonly  re- 
tires a  broker  to  a  fourth-grade  clerkship  — 
or  worse. 

"  I  wish  I  could  bring  this  truth  home  to 
real-estate  men  who  haven't  yet  grasped  it. 
They  don't  know  the  great  opportunity  that 

273 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

waits  for  the  broker  who  has  a  reputation  that 
he  guards  with  a  whole  girdle  of  earthworks. 

"  Since  my  first  unsuccessful  year  in  busi- 
ness I  have  refused  to  be  a  party  to  any  con- 
spiracy, against  either  seller  or  buyer.  True, 
values  are  often  a  matter  of  opinion,  espe- 
cially when  a  speculative  element  is  involved ; 
but  the  broker's  duty  is  to  acquaint  the  vendor 
and  vendee  with  all  the  facts  that  bear  on  the 
problem.  I  knew  one  investor  who  bought 
an  office  building  in  a  section  that  was  clearly 
marked  for  loft  property — property  given 
over  chiefly  to  the  smaller  manufacturing 
trades,  wholesale  concerns,  and  the  like.  The 
investment  ultimately  cost  him  most  of  his 
fortune.  Now  the  brokers  involved  in  the 
transaction  undoubtedly  knew  the  trend  of 
things,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  commissions 
they  put  the  sale  through.  A  few  deals  of 
that  sort  usually  put  men  in  a  class  that  bor- 
ders close  on  the  rogues'  gallery. 

"  I  knew  another  man,  out  in  New  Jersey, 
who  bought  a  home  overlooking  as  pretty  a 
landscape  as  one  would  wish  to  see.  The 
broker  neglected  to  say  that  the  landscape  was 
an  ideal  spot  for  a  bleachery  and  that  such  a 

274 


WOODCHUCKS 

plant  was  even  then  contemplated.  Within  a 
year  the  home-lover  was  looking  down  into  a 
belching  chimney! 

"  Here,  then,  were  two  typical  instances  in 
which  brokers  had  the  power  to  guide  and 
educate.  These  brokers,  like  many  another, 
bartered  away  their  chances  to  attain  power 
and  profit  in  their  communities.  As  a  result 
of  such  deals  hundreds  of  real-estate  men  go 
about  branded  without  realizing  it.  Then 
they  wonder  why  shrewd  operators  always  go 
round  the  corner  to  some  other  real-estate 
office  when  a  big  deal  is  on. 

"  Of  course  the  owner  who  has  bought  un- 
desirable property  wants  to  unload,  and  he  is 
always  able  to  find  a  broker  to  help  him. 
There  will  always  be  sellers  and  brokers  of 
that  sort.  As  for  me,  I  want  none  of  such 
business.  When  a  man  has  been  '  stung '  I 
advise  him  to  take  his  loss  and  next  time  to 
hunt  up  a  dependable  broker  before  he 
plunges. 

"  There  is  little  satisfaction  trying  to  edu- 
cate the  seller  who  sets  out  deliberately  to 
swindle  somebody;  but  there  's  a  lot  of  satis- 
faction in  educating  men  —  either  sellers  or 

275 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

buyers  —  who  are  led  astray  merely  by  their 
own  lack  of  knowledge.  Here  is  the  golden 
field  for  the  real-estate  man.  The  owner  can 
be  taught  to  handle  his  property  so  that  it  pays 
a  normal  revenue  and  the  purchaser  can  be 
shown  the  pitfalls  that  lurk  in  his  path. 

"  I  have  often  seen  property  rendered  prac- 
tically worthless  through  the  ignorance  of 
owners.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  repeat- 
edly doubled  the  income  on  rental  property 
by  changing  the  class  of  tenants,  or  by  altera- 
tions, or  by  the  acquirement  and  improvement 
of  adjacent  property.  One  business  building, 
for  instance,  stood  vacant  a  year  because  it 
was  out  of  date  for  merchandising  purposes. 
When  I  took  charge  of  the  estate  I  sent  a  man 
out  to  investigate  the  requirements  of  various 
trades,  with  the  idea  of  finding  a  class  of  ten- 
ants that  might  be  colonized.  We  learned 
that  a  number  of  small  concerns  working  in 
hairgoods,  feathers,  and  the  like,  were  dissat- 
isfied with  their  conditions  and  willing  to 
move.  Some  alterations  in  the  vacant  build- 
ing were  made  and  it  became  loft  property 
that  was  fully  taken  within  a  few  months.  In 
net  returns  it  became  a  very  valuable  holding. 

276 


WOODCHUCKS 

Moreover,  it  gave  the  neighborhood  a  person- 
ality that  increased  the  value  of  the  property 
adjacent.  This  sort  of  service  —  and  there 
are  a  hundred  variations  through  which  it 
may  operate  —  measures  the  value  of  the 
broker  and  agent. 

"  Before  the  real-estate  man  can  educate 
others,  however,  he  must  educate  himself. 
Once  a  client  sent  me  to  another  state  to  in- 
vestigate a  proposed  purchase.  The  local 
broker,  I  found,  could  tell  me  practically 
nothing  about  special-assessment  procedure, 
tax  limitation,  or  other  things  vitally  impor- 
tant. What  sort  of  advice,  then,  had  he  been 
giving  his  clients?  Once  I  heard  of  a  blind 
man  who  helped  a  lame  man  across  the  street. 
An  automobile  came  along  and  knocked  them 
both  down,  and  after  a  while  the  lame  man 
sued  the  blind  man  for  damages.  The  latter 
resisted  the  suit  on  the  ground  that  the  plain- 
tiff knew  a  blind  man  was  leading  him.  The 
judge  threw  the  case  out  of  court,  declaring 
that  both  were  fools. 

"  Whichever  way  I  turn  in  the  real-estate 
field  I  see  a  blind  broker  helping  a  lame 
owner  across  the  street.  I  can't  recall  an  in- 

277 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

stance,  however,  in  which  a  blind  broker  ever 
retired  with  a  bank  account  big  enough  to 
support  him." 

"  I  Ve  known  a  few  who  had  mahogany- 
trimmed  offices  for  a  while,"  chuckled  Barnes, 
"  but  the  mahogany  belonged  to  somebody 
else." 

Our  audience  in  the  smoker  had  a  laugh 
over  this,  and  gave  Gale  a  chance  to  light  an- 
other cigar.  The  women  had  insisted  that  we 
men  smoke  as  usual,  despite  their  presence. 
As  for  me,  I  felt  the  need  of  tobacco,  for  I 
was  very  nervous  over  the  prospect  of  taking 
the  stage,  as  I  must  do  when  Gale  finished.  I 
was  upset,  too,  over  Dorothy —  But  I  '11  not 
discuss  that. 

"  Even  before  I  had  gone  far  with  my  first 
selling  campaign,"  continued  Gale,  "  I  saw 
that  I  was  very  short  on  real-estate  law.  To 
correct  this  defect  I  took  a  year's  course  of 
lectuRes  in  an  evening  law  school.  Here  I 
discovered  some  astonishing  things  about  con- 
tracts; about  the  relations  of  landlord  and 
tenant,  and  broker  and  principal;  about  es- 
tates from  marriage  and  inheritance;  about 
titles  and  mortgages  —  and  a  hundred  other 

278 


WOODCHUCKS 

points  that  affect  real  estate.  You  know  a  vast 
number  of  situations  and  complications  have 
arisen  in  the  past,  and  have  been  decided  by 
the  courts  and  set  down  as  established  rules. 
Yet  to-day  brokers  and  owners  are  drifting  on 
the  same  old  rocks  because  they  don't  know 
how  to  navigate. 

'  I  can  put  my  finger  right  now  on  brokers 
who  can't  tell  you  the  definition  of  '  construc- 
tive eviction,'  or  the  meaning  of  a  condemna- 
tion clause,  or  the  legal  situation  that  arises 
when  a  purchaser  takes  possession  before  the 
delivery  of  the  deed.  Very  few  owners  know 
these  things  either.  I  knew  one  investor  who 
secured  an  option  on  a  piece  of  property  which 
the  vendor  refused  to  sell  when  the  time  came. 
The  announcement  of  extensive  business  im- 
provements in  the  vicinity  had  made  the  prop- 
erty much  more  valuable.  When  the  pur- 
chaser attempted  to  enforce  the  sale  in  court 
it  developed  that  the  option  was  void  through 
the  failure  of  the  broker  to  specify  some  of 
the  minor  details  of  the  proposed  terms  of 
sale.  Thus  the  customer  lost  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars'  profit  and  the  broker  lost 
his  fee. 

279 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  You  see,  there  are  plenty  of  people  who 
are  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  knowledge 
and  skill  of  the  reliable  real-estate  expert.  In 
the  United  States,  for  instance,  there  are 
pretty  nearly  a  million  widows  with  more  or 
less  property.  Widows  are  rich  plunder  for 
crooks.  For  twenty  years  I  Ve  been  a  widows' 
man.  I  have  a  good  many  widows  on  my  list 
who  Ve  grown  wealthy  during  my  adminis- 
tration of  their  affairs,  and  there  is  n't  one 
who  has  grown  poorer. 

"  Please  understand  me,  however.  No  ordi- 
nary real-estate  methods  will  bring  you  this 
class  of  business.  You  can't  sell  one  woman  a 
gold  brick  to-day  and  expect  to  see  a  lot 
of  women  come  up  in  their  automobiles 
to-morrow. 

"  I  don't  know  of  any  other  business  that 
offers  competent  men  without  capital  such 
opportunities  —  and  I  don't  know  of  any 
other  safe  investment  that  offers  the  oppor- 
tunity presented  by  real  estate;  but  you  can't 
handle  real  estate  on  a  wrong  basis  and  make 
a  success  of  it,  any  more  than  you  can  handle 
drygoods  or  machinery.  That 's  where  most 
people  blunder.  The  real-estate  man  is 

280 


WOODCHUCKS 

hedged  in  on  every  side  by  people  who  might 
be  his  customers  —  yet  they  run  away  when 
they  see  him  coming.  They  prefer  to  keep 
their  money  in  the  bank,  or  hidden  away  in  a 
vault  or  a  chest.  They  don't  trust  the  real- 
estate  chaps  and  they  have  n't  the  judgment  to 
buy  safely  on  their  own  account. 

"  Of  course  the  mediocre,  dishonest,  short- 
sighted brokers  will  always  be  with  us. 
You  '11  find  plenty  of  them  ten  years  from  now 
and  you'll  find  plenty  of  people  who  '11  howl 
that  real  estate  is  a  snare;  but  this  doesn't 
alter  the  fact  that  the  market  for  real  estate  is 
growing  fast,  and  is  bound  to  grow  faster  as 
the  population  increases  and  communities 
grow.  The  broker  who  sets  out  to  do  an 
honest  business  has  plenty  of  work  awaiting 
him.  The  harder  he  digs  the  more  wood- 
chucks  he  is  sure  to  find.  When  I  walk  or 
ride  about  New  York  I  speculate  on  the 
changes  the  next  generation  will  bring.  New 
York  must  expand  —  the  people  must  get 
farther  away  from  their  business.  This 
means,  for  one  thing,  astonishing  markets  for 
the  real-estate  men.  Suburban  New  York  has 
scarcely  begun  to  feel  itself. 

281 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  What  is  true  of  New  York  is  relatively 
true  of  other  centers.  The  next  few  decades 
will  witness  vast  changes  in  the  mode  of  life 
of  our  city  people.  Suburban  traffic  will  be 
revolutionized  and  the  overflow  will  fill 
valley  and  hill. 

"  Then  the  coming  of  modern  ideas  and 
quick-traffic  facilities  mean  ever-growing  op- 
portunities for  the  real-estate  man  in  the 
country.  A  great  many  of  these  country 
brokers  don't  see  their  chance.  I  know  one 
who  did.  He  sent  his  boys  to  an  agricultural 
school  and  then  established  them  on  a  small 
experimental  farm  near  his  town.  The  things 
those  boys  accomplished  opened  the  eyes  of 
the  whole  countryside  to  the  possibilities  of 
the  land  thereabout.  The  broker  suddenly 
found  a  most  extraordinary  market  for  farms 
that  had  lain  dormant  a  lifetime! 

"  You  see,  success  often  lies  at  a  man's  door; 
but  success  is  timid  and  has  to  be  coaxed  be- 
fore it  '11  come  in." 

I  could  see  by  Gale's  air  of  relief  that  he 
was  through.  There  were  many  other  inter- 
esting things  he  might  have  told  us  about  his 
career,  but  our  time  was  getting  short;  and  so, 

282 


WOODCHUCKS 

without  much  of  an  interval,  I  found  myself 
at  last  at  the  point  I  had  dreaded.  I  did  not 
relish  telling  my  story  to  an  audience  of  this 
sort.  I  should  n't  have  minded  the  seven  of 
us  —  and  Dorothy.  I  heartily  wished  that 
I  had  begun  the  narratives,  instead  of  Dowe, 
before  the  fame  of  our  success-tales  got 
abroad. 

However,  it  was  I  who  had  proposed  the 
thing  in  the  first  place,  and  I  resolved  to  face 
the  situation  with  the  philosophy  that  makes 
a  disagreeable  task  easy.  The  way  to  over- 
come unpleasant  duties  is  to  attack  them  with- 
out preliminary  skirmishings.  Some  men 
never  achieve  results  because  they  never  get 
beyond  the  skirmishing  line. 

Hardly  had  I  opened  my  mouth  to  speak 
when  I  was  delighted  to  see  Dorothy  Dowe, 
accompanied  by  her  mother,  at  the  other  end 
of  the  car.  Banker  Dowe  quickly  went  for- 
ward to  meet  them,  and  presently  escorted 
them  to  our  immediate  circle.  Instantly  I  of- 
fered my  own  chair,  as  did  every  one  of  our 
group.  With  an  odd  light  in  her  eyes,  Dor- 
othy looked  from  one  chair  to  another  —  and 
then,  with  a  shy  glance  at  me,  deliberately 

283 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

selected  mine.  Ah!  I  believe  I  said  a  moment 
ago  that  I  had  felt  inward  quakings  over  the 
ordeal  ahead  of  me.  Now,  undaunted,  I 
could  have  walked  through  blood  and  fire! 


284 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 

WAS  about  sixteen  years  old,"  said  I, 

"  when  I  entered  the  employ  of  Munn 

&  Moorehouse.    Well  do  I  remember 

the  day  I  was  hired  —  a  black  and  gloomy  day 

it  was  overhead,  and  a  black  day  in  my  heart. 

It  seemed  to  me  then  that  the  very  world  had 

come  to  an  end.     I  had  only  just  closed  a 

dreary  chapter  in  my  life,  and  was  beginning 

to  climb  up  a  path  that  seemed  to  stretch  out 

ahead  in  dizzy,  impossible  heights." 

Thus  I  began  my  story,  standing  there  in 
the  observation  smoker  and  facing  my  audi- 
ence. Theoretically,  I  was  talking  to  the  six 
men  whose  narratives  had  preceded  mine,  but 
in  reality  I  addressed  a  car  full  of  men  and 
women.  Most  of  the  men,  like  myself,  were 
standing,  for  there  were  not  half  chairs  enough 
to  go  around.  The  train  swayed  with  some 
violence  at  times,  and  I  steadied  myself  by 

285 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

keeping  one  hand  on  the  back  of  Dorothy's 
chair.  I  am  not  sure  that  this  incident  gave 
me  eloquence,  but  somehow  I  felt  a  strange 
exhilaration  of  speech.  I  was  not  naturally 
an  orator.  And  then,  you  know,  all  of  us  had 
unconsciously  fallen  into  Barnes'  figurative 
adaptation  of  words. 

"  I  have  already  told  you,"  I  went  on,  now 
addressing  only  the  members  of  my  party, 
"  how  the  six  youngsters  at  home  had  been 
left  without  father  and  mother,  and  how  the 
task  had  fallen  to  me,  as  the  eldest,  to  play  the 
part  of  parent.  I  shall  not  refer  again  to 
those  gloomy  days.  I  was  sixteen,  I  say,  when 
I  became  a  stock-boy  for  Munn  &  Moore- 
house,  which  firm  at  that  time  occupied  small 
quarters  well  downtown  on  Sixth  Avenue. 
Our  store  had  less  than  one-twentieth  of  the 
floor-space  we  now  occupy.  You  see,  there- 
fore, that  we  have  gained  more  than  a  natural 
increment.  Moreover,  our  business  has  been 
severely  competitive.  We  have  n't  walked  up 
by  violating  any  equity  which  the  people  at 
large  have  in  life." 

11  That,"  interrupted  Barnes,  "  is  a  test  of 


true  success." 


286 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

"  Right  here  at  the  start,"  I  went  on,  "  I 
wish  to  say  that  I  had  at  that  time  no  philoso- 
phy whatever.  I  did  not  know  that  success 
lay  in  having  a  philosophy,  and  in  living  it 
daily.  Had  I  known  that,  I  might  have  risen 
very  much  faster,  perhaps,  than  I  did.  In 
reality,  I  was  in  a  mental  hole  up  to  the  time 
I  was  twenty-three.  It 's  singular  that  so 
many  men  stay  in  an  intellectual  swamp  all 
their  lives,  when,  if  they  took  the  trouble  to 
look  closely  at  the  things  about  them,  they 
could  n't  fail  to  see  why  their  business  con- 
cerns were  butting  them  into  the  ditch. 

"  I  'd  like  to  say,  in  the  first  place,  that  a 
business  organization,  as  we  understand  it  in 
my  own  firm,  is  not  a  mere  list  of  officials. 
I  'm  going  to  tell  you,  briefly,  what  it  is.  Nor 
is  it  necessary  to  have  a  big  store  or  huge  fac- 
tory in  order  to  have  an  organization.  One 
of  the  best  organizations  I  know  is  in  a  little 
retail  store  that  has  five  clerks.  Since  the  store 
was  acquired  by  a  man  with  a  vision,  the  busi- 
ness has  got  out  of  the  mire  and  is  tackling  the 
mountain-side.  '  I  expect  to  see  a  hundred 
clerks  in  that  business  some  day. 

"  When  I  had  been  a  stock-boy  perhaps  a 
287 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

month,  a  new  youth  was  taken  into  my  depart- 
ment and  I  was  told  to  instruct  him  in  his 
duties.  This  I  proceeded  to  do.  But  that 
night  I  received  a  profane  lecture  from  an 
older  stock-boy  whom  we  knew,  disrespect- 
fully, as  '  Freckled  Squint.'  He  was  a  coarse, 
illiterate  lad,  of  a  class  that  I  refuse  at  the 
present  time  to  have  in  the  store.  But  in  those 
days  he  was  a  fair  type.  If  you  were  sailing 
a  ship,  you  would  n't  throw  out  a  lot  of  little 
anchors  to  drag  on  the  bottom  and  impede 
your  progress;  but  every  employee  of  this 
sort  drags  on  the  business. 

"  '  I  seen  you  showin'  that  new  kid  how  to 
do  things,'  said  Freckled  Squint,  threaten- 
ingly. '  Don't  you  know  you  're  cuttin'  your 
own  throat?  If  you  learn  the  new  kid,  he  '11 
get  your  job  away  from  you.  Never  learn 
nobody  nothin'!  That  ain't  the  way  to  play 
the  game.  Just  learn  yourself.  Then  the  old 
man  can't  fire  you,  'cause  there  won't  be  no- 
body 'cept  you  to  handle  stock.  See?  ' 

"  Since  I  lacked  the  broader  vision,  this 
argument  had  some  effect  on  me.  For  a  time 
I  let  the  newcomers  alone  as  much  as  I  could. 
You  know  this  is  the  spirit  that  pervades  many 

288 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

a  business  house  to-day;  it  is  one  of  those 
vicious  undercurrents  that  often  gets  into  an 
organization.  The  man  who  refuses  to  train 
an  understudy  for  fear  of  losing  his  own  job 
is  the  kind  who  stays  in  one  job  until  his 
shoulders  hump  up  and  his  chin  sinks  in.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  modern  successful  business 
tells  its  men  that  they  can't  expect  advance- 
ment until  they  have  trained  others  to  do  their 
work.  The  very  foundation  of  a  successful 
organization  lies  in  the  training  of  competent 
workers. 

"  I  was  knocked  around  the  various  stock- 
rooms for  two  or  three  years,  earning  six  or 
eight  dollars  a  week,  and  finally  landed  down 
in  the  basement,  in  the  delivery  department. 
Here  I  stayed  two  years  longer.  I  still  lacked 
the  ability  to  break  through  the  brain-fog  that 
shut  me  in  closely.  I  was  surrounded  by  nar- 
row-minded men  who  influenced  me  the  wrong 
way.  I  was  as  ignorant  of  the  eternal  truths 
of  business  as  a  child  is  of  economics.  Eco- 
nomics, by  the  way,  make  up  the  broad  sci- 
ence of  business.  The  universities  are  teach- 
ing this  science  now,  and  the  men  who  come 
forth  thus  fortified  —  if  they  don't  have  their 

289 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

heads  too  high  in  the  air  —  are  the  ones  who 
have  the  mental  attitude  to  succeed. 

"  In  a  few  minutes  I  '11  try  to  make  this  per- 
fectly concrete  to  you;  but  for  the  moment 
I  want  to  go  along  with  my  story.  In  the  de- 
livery department  the  fog  began  to  clear  away 
slowly.  A  delivery  department  is  the  one 
place  in  a  store  where  the  condition  of  the 
whole  organization  is  best  reflected.  Here  all 
the  incompetence  and  unwillingness  of  our 
force  was  strongly  felt.  We  were  constantly 
in  hot  water  over  the  mistakes  upstairs  —  mis- 
directed parcels,  illegible  handwriting,  mixed 
purchases,  and  so  on.  In  addition,  the  blun- 
ders and  indifference  of  the  delivery  depart- 
ment itself  added  to  our  woes.  I  began  to  see 
that  something  was  vitally  wrong  with  the 
management,  or  these  things  would  not 
happen. 

"  Up  to  that  point  our  business  had  grown 
chiefly  because  the  opportunity  forced  it. 
The  markets  crowded  upon  us;  the  city  was 
obliged  to  have  goods.  Opportunity  will 
build  a  business  sometimes  up  to  a  certain 
point;  then  the  trade  will  stop  crowding  and 
seek  other  channels  of  outlet.  Our  store  had 

290 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

reached  that  point,  as  I  learned  afterward. 
The  business  had  stood  still  for  a  year,  and 
was  now  sliding  backward.  The  weight  of  an 
incompetent  organization  —  one  that  almost 
wholly  lacked  the  selling  uplift  —  was 
swamping  it. 

"  A  temporary  emergency  in  the  Notion 
department  resulted  in  my  going  there  as  a 
clerk.  This  advancement,  however,  was  not 
the  result  of  any  plan,  but  was  mere  chance. 
You  see,  chance  plays  something  of  a  part  in 
these  things;  but  too  often  chance  operates 
the  wrong  way.  The  incapable  men  are 
advanced,  while  the  good  ones  remain 
submerged. 

"  Adjacent  to  the  counter  where  I  worked 
was  a  section  of  the  toilet-goods  division.  The 
girls  there  were  much  overworked  and  under- 
paid, and  the  things  they  said  about  the  man- 
agement —  when  the  management  was  n't 
within  hearing  —  were  at  least  picturesque. 
If  employers  could  always  know  what  the 
workers  are  saying  about  them,  and  doing,  an 
illuminating  light  would  be  thrown  on  a  most 
important  problem  of  organization  —  the 
handling  of  employees. 

291 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  The  head  of  stock  in  the  toilet  goods  was 
a  girl  whose  name,  if  I  recollect  right,  was 
Birdie  McNulty.  She  was  a  fair  example  of 
an  employee  advanced  without  logical  cause. 
She  was  sugar-coated,  but  bitter  within. 
When  any  one  with  authority  approached, 
Birdie  assumed  an  ethereal  sweetness,  but  in 
truth  she  was  a  most  pernicious  talker,  and 
very  active  in  setting  harmful  currents  in  mo- 
tion. Yet  she  had  ample  cause  for  her  grouch. 
It  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world, 
and  Birdie  was  human." 

"  You  can't  build  an  organization  and  over- 
look the  traits  of  humanity,"  said  Barnes. 

"  No,"  I  agreed.  "  Now  I  want  to  tell  you 
a  little  story  about  Birdie  McNulty.  One  day 
a  morning  newspaper  had  an  article  in  its 

*  beauty  '  column  advocating  the  use  of  a  face- 
brush  made  of  bristles  of  a  certain  kind.    A 
brisk  demand  sprang  up  that  day  for  brushes 
of  this  sort,  but  there  was  n't  one  in  stock. 

*  If  the  old  man  was  wise  to  it,'   remarked 
Birdie  to  me,  with  a  wink,  '  he  'd  get  in  a  lot 
of  these  brushes  on  the  double-quick.    I  could 
have  sold  a  hundred  of  them  to-day.    But  you 
can  bet  your  last  cent  I  '11  never  tell  him.' 

292 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

"•It  was  evident,  you  see,  that  the  toilet- 
goods  section  was  n't  paying  as  well  as  it 
might,  and  never  would  pay  so  long  as  Birdie 
McNulty  and  her  satellites  were  there  —  and 
as  long  as  the  '  old  man  '  was  in  charge  of  it. 
This  '  old  man  '  was  the  department  manager, 
and  in  reality  was  a  young  snip  of  a  chap  who 
clapped  his  hands  loudly  at  the  girls,  and  went 
about  like  a  peacock.  Everybody  hated  him, 
and  he  hated  everybody.  You  see,  he  was  get- 
ting only  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  a 
month,  and  was  always  looking  for  a  better 
job,  which  he  could  n't  find. 

"  Well,  I  Ve  told  you  this  incident  of  the 
face-brushes  merely  because  it  was  a  typical 
one.  Birdie  McNulty,  you  see,  had  a  con- 
crete selling  idea,  but  she  kept  it  carefully 
concealed.  She  knew  how  the  store  might  sell 
a  certain  lot  of  goods,  but  the  store  never  had 
the  advantage  of  her  knowledge.  This  was 
happening  right  along  all  through  the  estab- 
lishment. Every  day  a  thousand  forces  were 
operating  within  our  own  organization  to 
hold  the  business  down  and  counteract  a  thou- 
sand outside  forces  that  were  struggling  to 
make  it  grow. 

293 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  The  singular  part  of  this  situation,  as  I 
look  back  upon  it,  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  existed 
without  the  proprietors  of  the  business  know- 
ing it.  However,  the  same  situation  exists  to- 
day in  many  a  business  I  know.  The  poor 
organization  is  the  one  that  does  n't  get  the 
knowledge  and  ability  of  the  men  and  women 
who  compose  it.  The  greatest  thing  in  busi- 
ness, as  I  look  at  it,  is  the  organization  that 
works  shoulder  to  shoulder  to  boost  things 
along." 

"  From  stock-boy  up  to  the  president!  "  vol- 
unteered Greenleaf,  who  was  standing  back  of 
the  chair  occupied  by  Dorothy's  mother. 

"  From  car  cleaner  to  the  owner  of  the  rail- 
road! "  seconded  Frothingham.  "  I  agree  with 
you  that  organization  is  the  chain  that  pulls  a 
business  up  to  success;  but  there  must  be  no 
weak  links  in  that  chain." 

"Proceed!"  commanded  Dowe.  "Your 
logic,  young  man,  is  faultless." 

"  From  the  Notion  department,"  said  I,  "  I 
was  shifted  to  the  Groceries,  then  to  the  Dress- 
goods,  then  to  the  Furniture.  All  these 
changes  were  made  on  the  mere  exigencies  of 
the  moment.  My  special  qualifications  for 

294 


JUNIOR  PARTNER'S   RISE 

these  jobs  were  never  considered.  Through- 
out the  store  the  clerks  were  being  sent  here 
and  there  aimlessly,  without  ever  a  thought 
that  the  changes  might  or  might  not  develop 
them  and  help  the  business  accordingly. 

"  One  day,  in  the  Furniture,  a  clerk  nick- 
named '  Rags '  set  me  thinking  seriously.  I 
overheard  a  customer  asking  for  a  high-backed 
rocking-chair,  such  as  I  knew  very  well  we 
had  in  stock.  But  this  disgruntled  clerk,  hav- 
ing just  had  a  rumpus  with  another  customer, 
was  in  a  disagreeable  mood.  '  We  're  out  of 
them  sort  o'  rockers,'  he  said,  and  turned  away. 
The  customer  departed,  and,  no  doubt,  bought 
the  chair  elsewhere.  Eight  dollars  had 
walked  into  the  store  and  walked  out  again, 
but  the  high-backed  chair  remained;  it  rep- 
resented a  profit  that  the  store  might  have  got 
very  easily,  but  did  n't. 

"  '  Rags '  was  getting  a  salary  of  twelve  dol- 
lars a  week;  this,  too,  was  my  own  salary. 
That  evening,  at  home,  I  tried  some  original 
calculations,  and  these  really  formed  the  basis 
of  a  sweeping  revolution  in  our  organization. 
It  did  n't  come,  however,  until  quite  a  while 
afterward. 

295 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  My  daily  sales  were  not  averaging  more 
than  fifty  dollars.  I  had  heard  that  the  firm 
expected  a  net  profit  of  twenty  per  cent,  at 
least,  on  the  goods  in  my  department.  So,  if 
I  sold  fifty  dollars'  worth  of  goods  in  a  day, 
the  net  profit  was  ten  dollars.  Part  of  the  sell- 
ing expense,  of  course,  was  my  wages  of  two 
dollars  for  the  day. 

"  Then  I  assumed  a  hypothetical  case.  Sup- 
pose, I  reasoned,  that  I  should  sell  one  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth  of  furniture  a  day.  How 
much  could  the  store  afford  to  pay  me  and  still 
retain  a  reasonable  increase  of  profit  from  my 
greater  sales? 

"  This  problem,  you  see,  was  a  highly  tech- 
nical one,  involving  a  lot  of  cost  figures  that 
I  did  n't  possess.  I  'm  not  going  into  it  here, 
except  to  state  results.  Every  evening  for  a 
week  I  floundered  in  a  maze  of  figures,  filling 
all  the  loose  paper  I  could  find  at  my  home. 
My  eldest  sister  remarked  that  perhaps  I  was 
losing  my  mind ;  but  I  was  n't.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  was  just  coming  into  that  wide,  keen 
vision  that  was  destined  to  show  the  way  to 


success." 


"  Sometimes  an  employee  becomes  broader 
296 


JUNIOR  PARTNER'S   RISE 

than  his  boss ;  that 's  the  best  time  to  hunt  a 
new  job,"  added  Barnes. 

"  Unable  to  reach  a  definite  answer,  I  took 
my  puzzle  to  the  chief  accountant  at  the 
store,"  said  I,  going  on  with  the  story.  "  He 
laughed  at  first;  but,  as  he  glanced  through 
my  crude  calculations,  he  caught  a  glimmer 
himself  of  the  light  that  was  trying  to  pene- 
trate the  cracks  in  my_  skull.  He  promised  to 
solve  the  problem  for  me. 

"  The  next  day  I  was  called  to  the  office  of 
the  Senior  Partner.  He  was  a  nervous,  wor- 
ried man  at  that  time;  heaven  knows  he  had 
enough  to  disturb  his  repose.  He  told  me 
afterward  that  he  used  to  get  up  in  the  middle 
of  the  night  and  go  downstairs  to  let  in  the  cat, 
wind  the  clock,  and  do  anything  to  keep  him 
from  thinking.  He  did  n't  really  know  what 
it  was  that  made  him  think  all  night  long. 
Well,  I  '11  tell  you  what  it  was.  It  was  a  whole 
aggregation  of  people  like  *  Freckled  Squint,' 
Birdie  McNulty,  and  '  Rags.'  They  were 
bleeding  his  business  to  death. 

"The  Senior  Partner  looked  at  me  curi- 
ously, and  invited  me  to  sit  down.  Although 
I  'd  been  in  his  store  for  years,  he  did  n't 

297 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

know  me.  Now  that 's  a  situation  fit  for  a 
play." 

"  Introductions  are  very  good  things  in  busi- 
ness, even  for  Senior  Partners,"  suggested 
Hopkins,  dryly. 

"  Well,"  I  laughed,  "  I  introduced  myself, 
as  I  have  just  related.  t  What  made  you  as- 
sume,' asked  Mr.  Munn,  '  that  a  clerk  now 
selling  fifty  dollars'  worth  of  furniture  a  day 
could  be  expected,  in  reason,  to  sell  one  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth?' 

"  Here  was  an  opportunity  to  unburden  my- 
self of  ideas  that  had  been  accumulating  in 
my  brain  a  long  time. 

"  '  Because,'  I  answered,  with  some  diffi- 
dence, '  I  believe  that  most  of  the  clerks  in  this 
store  could  sell  a  far  greater  volume,  if  they 
worked  under  different  conditions;  many 
of  them,  I  am  sure,  could  sell  double  the 
volume.' 

"  *  That  is  a  broad  assertion,'  said  Munn, 
incredulously.  '  Still,  if  you  could  demon- 
strate it  to  be  true,  it  would  mean  a  great  deal 
of  money  to  us.'  Here  he  picked  up  a  sheet 
of  paper  on  which  the  chief  accountant  had 
worked  out  my  problem.  *  I  'm  afraid,'  he 

298 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

continued,  '  that  these  calculations  are  quite 
theoretical,  however  interesting.' 

"  Then  he  showed  me  the  figures.  On  the 
assumed  basis  of  sales  at  one  hundred  dollars 
a  day,  the  house  could  afford  to  pay  me  twenty 
dollars  a  week.  Even  though  it  paid  me  this 
additional  wage  of  a  dollar  and  thirty-three 
cents  a  day,  it  would  earn  for  itself  an  in- 
creased net  profit  of  eight  dollars  a  day. 

"  '  Well,'  said  I,  '  the  figures  may  be  theo- 
retical at  present,  but  I  'm  willing  to  demon- 
strate their  practicability  if  I  can.  If  the 
house  will  pay  me  a  salary  based  on  these  cal- 
culations, I  '11  do  my  best  to  sell  a  hundred 
dollars'  worth  of  furniture  a  day.' 

"  We  had  a  long  talk,  the  Senior  Partner 
and  I,  during  which  I  told  him  some  of  the 
things  that  had  happened  in  the  store.  If  the 
average  proprietor  could  get  his  employees 
to  talk  to  him  frankly,  many  a  business  would 
take  a  new  spurt." 

"  And  many  a  worthless  devil  would  be 
tossed  overboard,"  added  Hopkins. 

About  this  time  I  caught  Dorothy  looking 
up  at  me.  I  fancied  there  was  an  unusually 
friendly  light  in  her  eyes,  and  I  thought  there 

299 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

was  a  deeper  pink  in  her  cheeks  as  our  eyes 
met.  I  had  guessed  right:  she  was  interested 
in  my  story. 

However,  I  pulled  myself  together  with  a 
mighty  effort,  and  went  on.  "  The  Senior 
Partner  and  I  had  a  long  talk,"  I  repeated, 
"  and,  without  mentioning  any  names,  I  gave 
him  a  rare  glimpse  back  of  the  scenes.  It  was 
not  my  duty  to  unmask  Birdie  McNulty.  It 
was  the  type  only  that  I  exposed  to  his  view. 
Well,  the  result  of  this  talk  was  an  agreement 
whereby  my  salary  was  readjusted  on  the  basis 
I  had  suggested. 

"  It  is  wonderful  what  a  definite  incentive 
will  do  to  the  right  sort  of  man.  From  that 
day  I  became  alert  for  selling  ideas  and  keen 
for  customers.  I  improved  my  personal  ap- 
pearance and  atmosphere.  I  reached  out  for 
the  dollars  and  dragged  them  into  the  store. 

"  I  '11  be  brief,  for  I  'm  not  talking  on  the 
art  of  selling  goods,  but  on  that  bigger  thing, 
organization.  I  wish  merely  to  touch  on  some 
of  the  things  I  did,  for  they  led  to  important 
organization  policies.  Our  Furniture  depart- 
ment had  been  something  of  a  dead  proposi- 
tion. We  had  a  good  stock,  but  we  lacked  the 

300 


JUNIOR  PARTNER'S   RISE 

quality  I  call  *  punch.'  We  had  row  after  row 
of  polished  chairs,  long  lines  of  shining  tables, 
aisles  bordered  by  stiff  chiffoniers,  and  the 
like.  To  a  certain  extent,  this  was  unavoid- 
able; still,  when  a  merchant  has  a  stock  that 
lacks  life  of  itself,  he  should  use  the  oxygen 
treatment  upon  it.  If  necessary,  he  must  use 
artificial  respiration  until  it  breathes.  A  suc- 
cessful business,  like  a  successful  book,  must 
have  a  peculiar  faculty  of  gripping  the  human 
mind.  If  you  punch  a  man  in  the  side  when 
you  pass  him  on  the  street,  he  '11  stop  short. 
So,  if  you  punch  a  customer  with  a  sell- 
ing idea,  he  '11  slow  down  in  his  race  for 
your  competitor's  store  and  shy  around  into 
yours. 

"  The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  fit  up  a  col- 
lege girl's  room,  as  a  floor  display.  By  the 
order  of  the  Senior  Partner,  the  manager  of 
the  Furniture  department  gave  me  carte 
blanche.  And  I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  that  my 
display  was  worth  coming  to  see.  Then  our 
advertising  man  came  up  and  talked  with  me, 
and  the  next  day  our  ad  in  the  morning  papers 
had  a  new  flavor.  Instead  of  inviting  the  pub- 
lic to  come  in  and  inspect  cheerless  rows  of 

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THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

lifeless  furniture,  it  had  an  air  of  mystery  and 
motion  about  it. 

"  Well,  we  had  model  living-rooms,  effi- 
ciency kitchens,  bachelor  dens,  and  drawing- 
rooms,  and  finally  a  furnished  mansion  on  an 
elaborate  scale.  One  week  we  showed  a  room 
furnished  complete  for  fifty  dollars;  the  next 
week  one  that  would  cost  a  hundred ;  then  one 
requiring  two  hundred.  We  had  a  'Blue 
Room,'  modeled  after  the  one  at  the  White 
House,  and  a  reproduction  of  the  circular  office 
of  the  President.  You  see,  it 's  possible  to  do 
a  lot  of  things  to  sell  goods  —  if  the  men  who 
sell  them  will  unlock  their  ideas.  I  Ve  just 
given  you  a  glimpse,  however,  of  the  way  we 
punched  up  the  people  and  got  them  coming. 
There  was  n't  a  week  that  I  did  n't  originate 
at  least  one  selling  idea,  and  the  Senior  Part- 
ner backed  me  up  all  through. 

"  For  two  or  three  weeks  I  fell  short  of  my 
hundred  dollars;  then  on  several  days  I 
scored.  Suddenly  I  went  over  a  hundred. 
Our  furniture  sales  picked  up  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  For  a  month  I  averaged  a  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  a  day.  During  the  whole 
year  I  sold  about  forty  thousand  dollars,  or  a 

302 


JUNIOR  PARTNER'S   RISE 

daily  average  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-three 
dollars.  This  was  a  third  more  than  my 
agreement  required,  and  the  firm  paid  me 
twenty-five  dollars  a  week  for  the  entire  year. 

"  Meanwhile  the  other  furniture  clerks  had 
been  taken  into  the  game  —  all  except '  Rags,' 
who  would  not  get  into  line." 

"  You  '11  always  find  a  few  men  in  every 
organization  who  '11  fail  to  respond  to  the 
hypodermic  needle,"  said  Barnes. 

"  Yes,"  I  returned;  "but  the  Senior  Part- 
ner did  n't  like  to  fire  '  Rags '  because  he  had 
been  there  a  long  time,  and  had  twin  babies 
at  home ;  but  there  was  a  job  vacant  down  in 
the  subbasement. 

"  My  experiment  had  been  the  subject  of  a 
great  deal  of  discussion  among  the  higher  ex- 
ecutives. On  numerous  occasions  I  was  called 
to  the  office  during  these  talks,  and  given  an 
opportunity  to  take  part.  One  day  Mr.  Munn 
said  to  me: 

"  '  You  have  opened  up  extraordinary  possi- 
bilities, young  man;  and,  since  you  have  dem- 
onstrated these  possibilities  in  the  Furniture 
department,  we  are  going  to  give  you  a 
broader  field.  We  have  created  a  new  depart- 

3°3 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

ment,  and  hereafter  your  title  will  be  "  organi- 
zation manager."  Your  duties,  in  short,  will 
be  to  get  better  results  from  the  human  mate- 
rial in  this  business.  In  order  to  do  that,  you 
are  to  work  out  your  own  ideas.' 

"  So,  at  twenty-four,  I  was  given  a  desk  and 
a  salary  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  month. 
It  was  a  huge  task  I  began;  but  it  meant  the 
redemption  of  the  business. 

"  At  first  I  had  n't  much  of  a  plan.  It  is 
easy  to  talk  grandiloquently  about  one's  l  or- 
ganization,' but  to  make  that  organization 
stand  for  anything  definite  is  a  different  prop- 
osition. Once  I  spent  half  a  day  with  a  friend 
who  was  stage  manager  for  a  forthcoming 
spectacular  musical  show.  I  stood  in  the 
empty  pit  of  the  theater  and  watched  the  first 
rehearsals.  The  thing  was  all  a  jumble. 
Afterward  I  saw  the  finished  production,  in 
which  each  person  knew  his  or  her  part,  and 
the  whole  moved  like  an  automatic  machine. 
I  know  a  great  many  business  houses  to-day 
that  are  only  rehearsing.  Their  organizations 
are  mere  jumbles,  in  which  few  of  the  actors 
know  the  right  steps  or  figures." 

"  Worst  of  all,"  said  Barnes,  "  their  stage 

304 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

managers  don't  know  the  turkey-trot  from  the 
manual  of  arms." 

This  brought  a  great  laugh,  but  Dowe 
rapped  for  order. 

"  So,  you  see,"  I  resumed,  "  that  I  was  the 
stage  manager  of  our  business.  It  was  n't  up 
to  me  to  advertise  the  show,  or  take  in  the 
money,  or  look  after  the  properties.  My  part 
was  to  see  that  the  actors  performed  their 
evolutions  properly.  Now,  instead  of  begin- 
ning with  the  whole  big  mix-up,  I  resolved 
to  start  with  one  department.  I  selected  the 
Notions. 

"  First  I  secured  a  list  of  all  clerks  at  the 
Notion  counters,  and  then,  one  by  one,  I  sent 
for  them  and  had  a  five  minutes'  talk  with 
each,  at  my  desk.  My  purpose  was  twofold; 
I  wanted  to  study  the  clerks  at  first-hand,  and 
I  wanted  to  get  all  the  ideas  they  could 
give  me. 

"  A  few  of  them,  I  discovered,  were  not 
made  of  the  material  I  wanted.  A  good  stage 
manager  picks  his  graceful  dancers  and  retires 
the  awkward  squad.  In  the  badly  managed 
business  the  awkward  squad  is  often  the  larger 
element.  Almost  everywhere  I  go  I  see  men 

305 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

and  women  out  of  place  in  their  jobs.  Once 
a  young  man  applied  to  me  for  a  position  as 
elevator  conductor  in  our  store.  He  had 
worked  three  years  in  that  capacity  in  a  large 
wholesale  establishment.  I  was  struck  with 
his  pleasant  atmosphere,  and  his  clear,  con- 
vincing manner  of  talking.  '  You  don't  be- 
long in  an  elevator,'  I  told  him,  and  gave  him 
a  salesman's  job  in  the  shoe  department.  To- 
day he  is  manager  there.  The  wholesale 
house  might  have  made  a  high-class  salesman 
of  him,  but  it  kept  him  out  of  the  running; 
and,  I  have  no  doubt,  sent  out  more  than  one 
road  man  who  ought  to  have  been  in  an  ele- 
vator. In  building  an  organization,  the  thing 
to  do  first  is  to  pick  your  raw  material  intelli- 
gently, and  to  put  that  material  where  it  can 
do  its  best  work.  I  recall  one  young  woman, 
in  particular,  whom  I  discovered  through  my 
talks  with  the  clerks  in  the  Notions.  Her 
atmosphere  was  particularly  agreeable,  and 
she  had  qualities,  it  seemed  to  me,  that  fitted 
her  for  work  that  was  more  productive.  So 
I  transferred  her  to  the  Infant  Wear  section, 
where  she  was  called  on  to  meet  a  high-class 
trade.  Before  long  she  was  made  head  of 

306 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

stock,  and  raised  that  section  to  a  plane  never 
before  attained. 

"  But  I  'm  talking  just  now  about  the  No- 
tions. I  picked  a  new  manager  for  that  de- 
partment, and  spent  a  day  or  two  talking  to 
him.  I  showed  him  in  detail  what  I  had  done 
in  the  Furniture,  and  I  told  him  we  could  ac- 
complish as  much  in  the  Notions.  I  put  the 
thing  up  to  him  and  promised  him  a  bonus 
that  amounted  to  an  increase  of  a  hundred  per 
cent  in  his  salary  if  he  brought  the  volume  of 
sales  up  to  the  standard  I  fixed.  All  the  clerks 
in  the  Notion  section,  too,  were  put  on  a  pre- 
mium system. 

"  I  have  n't  time  to  tell  you  in  detail  what 
this  young  chap  did.  By  simplifying  his  ar- 
rangement of  stock  and  making  it  follow  an 
invariable  rule,  he  did  away  with  a  tremen- 
dous loss  of  selling  time;  he  made  it  possible 
for  the  same  number  of  clerks  to  wait  on  sev- 
enty-five per  cent  more  customers.  He  and 
the  advertising  man,  together,  put  over  all 
kinds  of  selling  ideas,  and  we  sold  that  year 
sixty  per  cent  more  of  Notions  than  ever 
before. 

"Next  I  took  hold  of  the  White  Goods; 

307 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

then  Groceries;  then  the  Stationery;  then 
Domestics.  One  by  one,  I  took  up  each  of  the 
separate  activities  of  the  store  and  made  it 
dance  gracefully.  In  charge  of  each  I  put  a 
competent  dancing-master,  and  I  quickened 
up  the  music  of  the  whole  production.  I  made 
each  department-head  responsible  for  the  men 
and  women  under  him,  showed  him  how  to 
develop  them,  and  mapped  out  a  system  by 
which  every  employee  had  definite  and  iron- 
clad duties." 

"  We  have  seen,"  observed  Frothingham, 
glancing  out  the  rear  door  of  the  smoker  at  the 
ribbon  of  track  that  was  sweeping  under  us 
and  running  away  round  the  curves,  "  how  the 
flagman  drops  off  when  the  train  is  blocked 
—  drops  off  instantly  and  prevents  a  rear-end 
collision.  If  every  employee  of  a  business 
could  be  a  sort  of  flagman,  such  a  concern 
would  have  an  ideal  organization." 

"  In  the  firm  of  Munn,  Moorehouse  &  Gay- 
lord,"  I  said,  quickly,  "  our  executives  must 
serve  as  flagmen  before  they  get  higher. 
Therefore  they  understand  how  vital  it  is  to 
know  one's  duties  and  perform  them  at  the 
right  time.  But  I  must  hurry  along  with  my 

308 


JUNIOR  PARTNER'S   RISE 

narrative.  As  organization  manager,  gentle- 
men, I  extended  my  work  to  our  wholesale 
establishment,  and  to  our  manufacturing  en- 
terprises. In  the  latter  I  found  just  as  many 
opportunities  for  betterment  as  in  the  selling 
branches  of  the  business.  The  right  organiza- 
tion in  a  factory  will  quicken  production  im- 
mensely and  cut  down  expenses  and  costs. 
For  example,  I  said  to  one  superintendent: 
1  You  must  cut  the  unit  cost  of  this  Number 
Nine  piece  from  eleven  to  six  cents.'  That 
was  a  radical  order,  and,  on  the  face  of  it, 
seemed  impossible.  But  the  superintendent 
had  developed  an  organization  under  him, 
and  when  the  problem  was  studied  by  intelli- 
gent men  a  machine  was  perfected  by  which 
the  cost  of  making  this  piece  of  apparel  was 
reduced  to  five  cents,  and  subsequently  to 
three.  On  another  occasion,  when  a  similar 
order  was  given,  a  folding  machine  was  in- 
vented almost  immediately  that  accomplished 
the  necessary  result.  If  you  have  the  right 
men  in  your  organization,  and  develop  them 
properly,  they'll  work  magic  for  you  when 
you  wave  your  wand. 

"  But  at  the  beginning  I  found  the  same 

309 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

story  all  through  our  business  —  no  well-de- 
fined policies,  lack  of  the  right  human  mate- 
rial, want  of  incentive,  and  a  woeful  need  of 
initiative.  In  the  wholesale  house,  for  in- 
stance, the  manager  of  the  Garment  depart- 
ment belonged  to  a  school  of  business  twenty 
years  out  of  date.  He  had  n't  got  the  modern 
viewpoint  —  the  l  furniture  viewpoint/  as  our 
Senior  Partner  named  it.  I  tried  faithfully 
to  make  him  see  things  as  I  saw  them,  but  for 
a  week  I  made  no  impression.  Then  I  said  to 
him:  l  If  you  get  the  spirit  of  winning  into 
the  men  under  you,  you  can  easily  sell  thirty 
per  cent  more  stuff  than  you  sold  last  year. 
We  '11  give  you  what  new  blood  you  need,  and 
we  '11  pay  you  and  your  men  what  you  earn. 
But  if  you  fail  to  sell  the  extra  thirty  per  cent 
—  well,  in  that  event  you  automatically  fire 
yourself.'  In  his  case  I  put  the  proposition 
unusually  strong. 

"Well,  sir,  he  woke  up;  his  coattails  did 
some  lively  stunts  about  our  mercantile  stage. 
He  acquired  the  mental  attitude,  forgot  his 
traditions,  and  went  over  the  mark  I  set  for 
him.  But  he  did  n't  do  it  alone;  if  he  had  n't 
organized  his  men  for  the  effort,  he  would  n't 

310 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

have  done  it.    It 's  the  men  who  work  for  you 
that  do  the  thing,  very  often. 

:<  In  the  Flannels  we  had  been  disgracefully 
deep  in  the  mire  of  incompetence.  I  put  in  a 
new  manager,  because  there  was  no  hope  for 
the  old  one.  There  is  n't  any  use  trying  to 
make  a  clubfooted  man  toe  out.  The  new 
manager  demonstrated  my  theory  that  if  you 
set  a  reasonable  goal  for  a  man  to  attain,  and 
set  the  right  man  at  the  task,  he  will  achieve 
it  nine  times  out  of  ten,  no  matter  if  he  sells 
only  batts,  waddings,  and  burlap.  One  thing 
this  new  manager  did  was  to  sell  four  times  as 
many  steamer  rugs  as  we  'd  ever  sold.  He 
did  this  by  clever  ideas  in  featuring. 

"  It  was  really  astonishing  how  the  different 
departments  responded  as  I  touched  the  keys 
of  organization.  The  Silks,  Laces,  Cloths, 
Prints,  Carpets,  Hosiery,  Books  —  all  the  de- 
partments, in  fact,  got  into  line,  so  each  of 
them  began  to  show  results  from  ten  to  a  hun- 
dred per  cent  better  than  formerly." 

"  Yet  in  reality  it  was  a  logical  result,"  in- 
sisted Barnes.  "When  you  improve  the  in- 
gredients that  go  into  the  soup,  you  make 
better  soup." 

3" 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

"  But  the  actual  improvement  of  the  ingre- 
dients of  our  organization  was  a  patient,  labo- 
rious process,"  I  said.  "  As  I  have  shown  you, 
I  first  surrounded  myself  with  a  lot  of  depart- 
ment-heads whom  I  imbued  with  the  broader 
vision.  I  gave  each  the  incentive  to  originate 
selling  ideas  and  short-cuts  in  expense.  Each 
one  of  these  had  his  goal  set  for  him  —  his 
expected  volume  of  sales.  The  attainment  of 
it  meant  a  much  larger  bonus  than  if  he  fell 
short.  And  in  order  to  knit  all  the  depart- 
ments together  and  make  each  manager  inter- 
ested in  the  welfare  of  all  the  departments,  as 
well  as  his  own,  we  offered  a  general  percen- 
tage bonus  and  divided  it  equally  among 
all  the  department-heads.  It  was  based 
on  the  total  net  profits  of  the  house.  Our 
scheme,  you  see,  was  no  mere  plan  of 
profit  sharing.  Our  people  got  what  they 
earned. 

"  Thus  each  of  these  managers  became  the 
head  of  a  little  world  of  his  own.  He  was,  in 
effect,  the  organization  manager  of  that  minor 
world.  It  was  his  duty  to  make  detailed  re- 
ports to  me  concerning  each  worker.  In  my 
office  we  kept  a  card-index  system,  showing 

312 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

the  monthly  sales,  clerk  by  clerk.  But  this 
was  n't  all.  Each  department  had  a  '  sugges- 
tion box,'  into  which  any  employee  could  drop 
a  written  slip  bearing  a  definite  idea  by  means 
of  which  more  goods  might  be  sold  or  methods 
improved.  Every  idea  accepted  was  credited 
to  the  employee  furnishing  it;  and  not  only 
was  a  cash  payment  made  in  return,  but  the 
number  of  ideas  supplied  by  each  clerk  be- 
came a  matter  of  record.  Advancements  were 
made  for  cause,  not  through  personal  favor- 
itism. Please  observe  that  this  plan  was  de- 
signed to  give  us  human  material  vastly  more 
profitable  than  Birdie  McNulty." 

"  The  ideas  that  remain  on  ice  in  the  brains 
of  the  average  business,"  broke  in  Barnes 
again,  "  would  surprise  you  if  you  got  the 
sawdust  cleared  away.  Some  business  men 
try  to  club  out  the  ideas  with  a  bludgeon,  but 
the  modern  organization  manager  gets  them 
coming  naturally  and  willingly." 

"That's  it,  in  a  nutshell,"  said  I.  "Of 
course  we  extended  our  premium  or  bonus 
systems  down  through  the  ranks.  When  you 
go  to  a  store  to  buy  butter,  you  have  to  pay 
more  for  quality,  but  a  lot  of  business  men 

3*3 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

think  they  can  get  creamery-brand  labor  on 
a  butterine  basis." 

"  You  can  make  a  horse  pull  by  sitting  be- 
hind him  and  swearing,"  Barnes  declaimed, 
"  and  you  can  make  a  dog  crouch  before  you, 
but  the  men  who  can  sell  the  most  goods  for 
you  are  not  built  that  way." 

By  these  deft  and  characteristic  twists  of 
speech,  Barnes  was  helping  out  my  story  in  a 
most  picturesque  way.  But  I  was  anxious 
now  to  get  through.  Once  more  I  caught 
Dorothy's  glance,  and  the  smile  I  saw  in  her 
eyes  fired  my  impatience.  In  an  hour  we  must 
separate  —  she  to  go  her  way,  I  to  go  mine. 
The  Dowes  were  to  spend  some  time  in  south- 
ern California,  but  in  four  days  I  was  to  take 
the  Overland  Limited  back  to  New  York.  It 
was  no  pleasure  trip  for  me;  I  had  come  West 
on  hurried  business  connected  with  the  San 
Francisco  branch  of  Munn,  Moorehouse  & 
Gaylord.  Indeed,  by  noontime  of  that  very 
day,  and  doubtless  far  into  the  night,  I  must 
be  so  immersed  in  business  affairs  that  even 
Dorothy  Dowe  would  perhaps  be  only  a 
shadow.  No,  I  knew  this  could  not  be  so! 
Dorothy  would  always  be  a  reality.  Indeed, 


JUNIOR  PARTNER'S   RISE 

at  that  moment  I  vowed  in  my  heart-  But 
just  then  I  heard  Dowe  telling  me  to  go  on 
with  my  story. 

So  I  collected  my  wandering  thoughts. 
[C  In  order  to  train  our  employees  in  the 
broader  habits  of  thinking  and  doing,"  I  said, 
"  we  established  a  school  on  an  upper  floor 
of  our  store,  where  we  had  graded  lectures  on 
management;  here,  too,  we  taught  our  clerks 
the  essential  things  about  goods.  You  know 
that  in  many  business  establishments  the  chief 
weakness  lies  in  the  sales  force.  The  goods 
may  have  all  sorts  of  fine  qualities,  but  if  the 
salesman  is  n't  able  to  talk  intelligently,  the 
initiative  of  the  factory  is  largely  wasted.  So, 
too,  is  the  splendid  selling  machinery  one 
often  sees  in  establishments  where  the  human 
element  is  'way  below  par.  I  often  think  of 
this  when  I  go  into  business  houses  and  see  the 
fine  buildings,  the  attractive  fixtures,  the 
smooth-running  elevators  —  and  the  human 
organization  that  is  n't  half  organized. 

"  One  of  my  greatest  troubles  lay  in  the 
difficulty  I  found  in  recruiting  department- 
heads  who  were  broad  enough  to  see  all  these 
things.  So  I  adopted  what  I  called  the  '  travel 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

plan.'  Men  who  travel  much  —  provided 
they  have  the  right  foundation  —  get  above 
the  common  level.  But  the  sort  of  travel  I 
gave  these  young  chaps  required  no  railroad 
fare.  Whenever  any  department  developed 
a  man  to  the  point  where  he  promised  well  as 
an  executive,  I  started  him  going.  I  gave  him 
a  month,  say,  in  the  Linens;  then  another 
month  in  the  Curtains;  then  two  or  three 
weeks  in  the  Wash  Goods ;  then  a  week  in  the 
Sporting  Goods.  I  fixed  up  several  courses 
that  covered  periods  ranging  up  to  two  years, 
finishing  with  the  different  departments  of  the 
office.  Wherever  the  future  executives  were 
sent,  they  did  plebeian  work,  alongside  the 
regular  workers.  They  understood  what  the 
scheme  was,  and  almost  without  exception 
they  took  hold  vigorously.  One  of  those  chaps 
frequently  went  into  a  department  that  was 
utterly  strange  to  him  and  within  a  week  rec- 
ommended improvements  that  meant  larger 
sales  or  reduction  of  outgo.  It  was  the  travel 
viewpoint,  you  see.  If  only  you  have  a  defi- 
nite policy  of  developing  men,  it  '11  work  out 
every  time. 

"  Thus  we  always  had  ample  material  from 
316 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

which  to  draw  our  department-heads,  and 
from  our  department-heads  we  now  draw  the 
men  whom  we  take  into  the  business. 

"  As  for  myself,  I  was  taken  into  the  cor- 
poration the  year  after  I  became  organiza- 
tion manager.  That  day  the  Senior  Partner 
called  me  to  his  office  and  gave  me  a  check  for 
a  thousand  dollars.  *  This,'  he  said,  '  is  a  gift 
from  the  house.'  Then  he  handed  me  a  hun- 
dred shares  of  stock.  '  But  these,'  he  went  on, 
'  you  '11  have  to  pay  for.  We  are  going  to 
charge  you  with  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  in- 
terest on  that  sum  at  six  per  cent.  Then  we  '11 
credit  you  with  the  profits  on  your  stock,  and 
you  can  settle  the  debt  in  that  way.  The 
bigger  you  make  the  profits,  the  sooner  the  in- 
debtedness will  be  canceled.  If  at  any  time 
you  should  wish  to  dispose  of  the  stock,  you 
must  sell  it  back  to  us.' 

"  In  less  than  two  years  I  had  cleaned  up  my 
block  of  stock,  and  was  charged  with  another 
block  —  this  time  forty  thousand.  Our  re- 
modeled organization  was  now  piling  up 
astounding  results;  we  were  making  money 
so  fast  that  it  dazed  us.  Expansion  was 
imperative,  and  we  put  up  a  new  building. 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

In  our  greater  business  I  was  allowed  a  lib- 
eral share.  My  partners  advanced  the  cash 
and  I  gave  them  my  note.  This  note  is  now 
largely  paid,  though  only  a  few  years  have 
elapsed.  In  a  way,  my  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness was  given  to  me;  but  in  reality  I 
earned  it. 

"  About  twenty  men  have  followed  along  in 
my  footsteps,  though  some  of  them  are  small 
holders  of  stock.  Every  one  we  take  in  is  a 
picked  man.  Nor  is  there  any  element  of 
mere  friendship  in  this  policy  of  giving  our 
best  executives  an  interest  in  the  business. 
We  do  it  because  it  pays  big  dividends.  It 
brings  out  the  merchandising  and  manufactur- 
ing genius  of  the  organization.  The  average 
partnership,  you  know,  is  a  wretched  aggrega- 
tion of  men  drawn  together  through  chance  or 
acquaintance.  In  our  establishment  no  man  is 
ever  admitted  who  has  n't  proved  himself  in 
advance  —  after  we  have  applied  our  own 
brand  of  development.  Our  latest  arrival  is 
a  young  man  who  started  five  years  ago  as  an 
umbrella  checker  in  the  main  vestibule.  One 
day,  through  the  f  suggestion  box,'  I  received 
a  selling  idea  from  this  boy.  He  proposed 

318 


JUNIOR   PARTNER'S   RISE 

that  on  rainy  days  we  have  a  special  win- 
dow display,  devoted  to  wet-weather  goods. 
Thereafter  we  kept  a  section  of  a  window  that 
could  be  transformed  quickly,  to  meet  weather 
conditions.  We  materially  helped  our  sales 
of  umbrellas,  raincoats,  and  the  like. 

'  This  boy  we  promoted  for  his  alertness. 
It  was  n't  long  before  we  heard  from  him 
again.  We  kept  on  hearing,  and  he  kept  on 
going  up.  We  Ve  had  hundreds  of  such  in- 
stances. You  see  now  what  I  mean  by  the 
term  '  organization.'  It 's  the  organized  ef- 
fort of  the  best  men  and  women  we  can  get 
hold  of.  It 's  the  effort  they  put  forth,  not  for 
the  store  primarily,  but  for  themselves.  Yet 
the  two  are  synonymous.  There  is  no  way  to 
get  this  organized  effort  except  to  go  after  it." 

"  The  nation  is  full  of  ten-dollar  clerks  who 
offer  amazing  material  for  business  organiza- 
tions," said  Barnes.  "  There  is  amazing  op- 
portunity for  ten-dollar  clerks  who  will  get 
hold  of  a  mental  scaling-ladder  and  climb  on 
top  of  the  wall,  where  they  can  see  over  into 
the  field  of  Opportunity." 

This  piece  of  philosophy,  I  concluded,  was 
a  good  one  to  close  with.  I  looked  at  my 

3*9 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

watch.  Only  three-quarters  of  an  hour  re- 
mained before  the  Limited  would  pull  into 
Oakland.  Only  three-quarters  of  an  hour  — 
ah!  but  vast  possibilities  hang  on  the  minutes 
sometimes ! 


320 


CHAPTER  XIV 

AT  THE  TERMINAL 

THE  Overland  Limited  stood  in  the  Pa- 
cific terminal  at  last.  An  inspiring 
example  it  was  of  accomplishment!  In 
spite  of  every  obstacle  and  discouragement,  it 
had  come  through  to  Success.  It  had  tri- 
umphed over  darkness  and  storms,  over  rivers 
and  mountains,  over  landslides  and  wrecks. 
It  had  been  hampered  and  delayed,  but  never 
for  a  moment  discouraged-  The  men  who 
operated  the  railroad  had  been  trained  to 
keep  everlastingly  at  it;  they  knew  the  ter- 
minal could  be  reached. 

So  it  is  with  men  who  set  out  to  conquer  — 
no  matter  what  terminal  they  direct  their  steps 
toward.  Some  men  are  traveling  to  the  sea- 
board, and  some  toward  the  lesser  destinations 
of  the  interior;  but  if  they  first  make  sure 
there  is  a  passable  grade  to  go  over,  they  can 

321 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

get  there  if  they  keep  at  it.  To  men  of  con- 
victions and  courage,  not  even  a  landslide 
can  prove  overwhelming.  True,  disaster  will 
sometimes  hem  them  in,  and  if  they  give  up 
they  are  lost.  But  the  men  who  give  up  in 
business  are  those  who  do  not  know  how,  or 
who  lack  the  faith  to  go  on.  The  men  who 
reach  their  terminals  are  those  who  are  strong 
in  the  self-reliance  that  comes  of  knowledge, 
and  who  strike  boldly  at  the  very  heart  of 
resistance. 

I  perceive  that  I  lapse,  in  spite  of  myself, 
into  Barnes'  poetic  license.  Yes,  and  why 
should  n't  I,  when  the  gloved  hand  of  Miss 
Dorothy  Dowe  trembled  on  my  arm  as  we 
walked  aboard  the  ferry  that  was  to  take  us 
across  to  San  Francisco?  And  it  was  while  we 
were  standing  thus  on  the'  boat,  almost  at  the 
portal  of  the  Golden  Gate  itself,  that  I  spoke 
to  Dorothy's  father  with  reference  to  an  ex- 
tremely personal  affair. 

"  Sir,"  said  I,  and  perhaps  my  voice 
quavered  a  little  —  "  Sir,  some  few  days  ago 
I  was  much  impressed  with  a  little  story  you 
told  of  a  drygoods  chap  who  tried,  long  ago, 
to  take  away  from  you  a  certain  young  lady. 

322 


AT   THE  TERMINAL 

If  I  recollect  right,  you  declared  your  inten- 
tion of  fighting  that  chap  to  the  finish.  Now, 
sir,  I  wish  to  inquire  if  you  have  any  lingering 
animosities  toward  drygoods  chaps.  I  should 
like  to  know,  sir,  because  —  well,  because  I 
should  feel  badly  were  you  disposed  to  fight 


now." 


Banker  Dowe  looked  at  me  sharply; 
then  at  his  daughter.  "What's  that?"  he 
demanded. 

"  I  repeat,"  said  I,  "  that  I  should  feel  badly 
were  you  to  fight.  Twenty-odd  years  have 
elapsed,  I  believe,  since  your  little  brush  with 
the  brick  and  tile  manufacturer,  but  the  dry- 
goods  chaps  are  still  hanging  around.  One  of 
them,  sir,  is  about  to  take  a  young  lady  away 
from  you  —  but  in  this  case  the  young  lady 
is  on  the  drygoods  chap's  side.  So  I  beg  of 
you,  sir,  to  make  no  disturbance!  " 

Ah!  the  great  firm  of  Munn,  Moorehouse 
&  Gaylord  had  struck  boldly  more  than  once 
at  the  heart  of  resistance;  I  well  knew  how 
to  strike.  Banker  Dowe  was  quite  overcome, 
and  could  offer  only  feeble  remonstrance. 

So  you  see  that  business  is  not  all  there  is 
to  success.  And  may  heaven  save  my  son 

323 


THE    JUNIOR    PARTNER 

(God  bless  the  boy  —  he's  just  learning  to 
walk!)  from  the  fate  of  a  man  who  imagines 
wealth  to  be  success.  Even  were  he  to  inherit 
the  whole  of  the  great  house  of  Munn,  Moore- 
house  &  Gaylord,  I  should  esteem  him  a  fail- 
ure were  he  never  to  stand  up  with  other  men 
and  fight  for  things  worth  achieving. 


THE  END 


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